Worlds Collide
by Paintdripps
Summary: My first fanfic ever! This is my idea of what will happen in The Son of Neptune! If you like it, review! If you have suggestions, review! No flames, please! Rated T for action and violence  fighting monsters .
1. Nightmares

Hey everybody! This is my first story! Review if you like it! Review if you have some suggestions! If you really hate the story, just don't read. No flames, please!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Hero book or the characters. They belong to Rick Riordan, my role model!

I

REYNA

For the umpteenth time that week, Reyna woke up from nightmares.

But this time, the dreams were much, much worse. She'd dreamed that the goddess Juno had revealed her true form. And Jason had looked.

"It's probably just a dream," she muttered to herself. But she knew better. Demigods rarely had normal dreams; usually they were actually watching things happen.

"Then Jason's dead…" she breathed.

In the morning, she didn't look well rested at all. Her semisweet chocolate brown braid was frizzy and unkempt. Dark shadows appeared under her normally bright green eyes.

"Yikes, Stick. What happened last night?" asked her half-brother Devon, a son of Mars.

Reyna's nickname was Stick because she wasn't big and beefy, like a typical child of Mars. She was thin like a stick and had lightly tanned skin, which only emphasized her skinniness.

"Nightmares," she mumbled.

Devon laughed. "Don't tell me they scare you!"

Her eyes flashed. "People _die _in my dreams, Devon. Death is no funny thing."

He stopped laughing and rolled his eyes. "But you're our cabin leader, Stick! You gotta be strong!"

"I hate this job," she said. "I have to be so tough all the time! Jupiter knows how much it kills me!"

"Don't tell me you'd rather be some mousy child of Venus."

"So? Dakota's a child of Venus, but she beat you in empty-handed combat!"

Devon winced. "Don't go there, please." Reyna knew she'd gotten under his skin.

"Later, Bonehead." Reyna turned and left. The metal ring on the end of her braid hit Devon in the forehead.

Reyna stood on a hill by herself, trying to sort out the dreams. She'd seen some other girl in her dream with Jason, who looked Cherokee or something. She was beautiful, like a daughter of Venus.

Reyna was miserable about that. Jason would probably have fallen for the girl, and then she would never see him again. That wasn't a possible option. It had taken her months to get him to ask her out! And then it had taken weeks more to get the giant dope to kiss her. He was such a bonehead sometimes!

But Reyna missed the boneheaded guy. Now she was so bored that she had to rely on Bobby, son of Minerva, for entertainment. And his idea of humor was reciting numbers of pi and forgetting the six thousandth number.

Ah, Jason. Why did he have to leave?

**Sorry the first chappie is kind of boring, but it'll get more interesting, I promise! It's just that I have to introduce stuff in the first chapter. Man, chapter ones are HARD!**


	2. Losing Festus

**YAY! Here's chapter two! Warning: it's a little sad.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Hero or the characters in it. **

II

LEO 

Leo paused from his hammering to wipe the sweat from his brow.

For weeks, he had been working on the flying ship that could travel across land and sea. The Hephaestus cabin had all been working away.

It made them exhausted, and every day when they flopped into their bunks their shoulders and fingers ached. But it was so satisfying that they were building something great, something that their dad would be proud of.

Another small plus: now the other campers had to go sharpen their own swords. Leo smiled inwardly. He had been getting sick of having to sharpen other people's weapons, especially when he didn't have any Celestial bronze to kill monsters with. It seriously bothered him.

Seriously! Even his friend Piper McLean, a daughter of Aphrodite, had her dagger to skewer stuff with. Jason had his Imperial gold transforming sword/coin thingy! But him? He had to charbroil stuff with his fire powers and bonk people with his hammer. And sometimes, he even had to throw breath mints at people just to distract them! Leo disliked being the sidekick of the story. Nobody would remember Leo Valdez. He would just be mentioned in the stories as, "Oh yeah, and there was some kid who sets himself on fire or something." It was pathetic.

But here was his chance to become important, and did he want that! Here was his chance to be remembered as someone who had a part in something. He wouldn't shame his mother and father.

Most people had always understood him, and thought he was a goofball who could never concentrate. He was never serious, because when you're serious, you think too much. And thinking means remembering. Remembering hurt.

It hurt to remember one of the few days in the workshop with his mother, Esperanza. She was always cheerful for his sake, even if she was exhausted. And she always had a few hugs for Leo no matter what. And she was the only person in the world who really, truly cared about him. She was the only person in the world who would ever miss him if he died.

And then she died, leaving him all alone.

Leo swiped at his stinging eyes. Thank the gods nobody noticed; they all assumed it was from the smoke. That was a plus for being in the forges.

He glanced at the bronze dragonhead sitting on the table next to him, jaw slack. The scales were covered in soot, but still gleamed dully. The ruby eyes that had once glowed like a furnace were cold and empty and glazed. It reminded Leo of his promise to Festus the automaton.

"I didn't forget," he whispered so nobody could hear. "I remember. 'All things can be reused.' You'll have a life again, Festus."

As its name was spoken, it seemed to Leo that a single ember ignited. Just to show that Festus was listening.

"You see, buddy, this ship will be built for you…"

**What did you guys think? I hope it was better than chapter one! ;) **


	3. No Place Like Home

To all you awesome people out there: thanks for the reviews! I'm going to try to keep updating as quickly as possible, since I know how much you guys hate waiting.

**So anyway, here's chapter three! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Hero or any of the characters. They belong to Rick Riordan, K.A.W. (Known Awesome Writer).**

**Wow… that came out of nowhere… ;D**

III

JASON

Jason was dreaming about the Roman camp.

He could see all his friends going about their daily business; Bobby (son of Minerva) was being a nerd, as usual, and Gwen (daughter of Apollo) was playing basketball with a couple of her half-brothers. He could see Dakota (daughter of Venus) throwing mud bombs at any sucker who walked past the bush she was hiding in. Even with her face streaked with mud and her black hair snagged on thorns, she managed to look goddess-beautiful.

Hazel, a daughter of Ceres, was helping her cabin mates get the next meal ready. Her green-brown eyes were wandering outside, as though she'd rather be ambushing Dakota.

Then his dream shifted. Instead of being in the heart of camp, he was now standing on a hill overlooking the camp.

Next to him was a girl with a long brown braid down her back. A few strands of hair fell in her face, one of them hanging in front of one of her eyes. Her eyes were a soft green that almost seemed to glow. A few cinnamon colored freckles were dusted across her lightly tanned face.

She wore an old faded purple t-shirt and torn light blue denim shorts. But she went barefoot, which was weird since the ground had so many sharp rocks. The girl didn't seem to mind the various cuts she was getting on her feet and ankles.

At first, it seemed as though there was some black anklet on her right ankle. But as Jason looked, it appeared to be burned onto her skin. Different symbols encircled it.

"_Nuntius porto_," the girl muttered, and one of the symbols glowed gold. "Carry my message to him." She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. "Jason, wherever you are, I hope you know that we know you're coming. Percy Jackson, _stultus et, _is here. He says he misses his girlfriend, Annabeth. Do you miss me? I miss you, every day. It hurts that you're not here. Plus, you're at least fun to spar with." She smiled. "I'll see you soon, I know it. _Vato._"

Oddly enough, Jason understood the Latin. ***You can look it up on Google Translate; just translate it from Latin to English. **

The girl was also a Roman demigod, like him. There was a whole camp of people like Jason across the nation.

For the first time, Jason felt excited about the voyage.


	4. Memories

**Hi everybody! Sorry for the wait, but I don't get a lot of time on computer.**

**So. I have decided the 7. One will be revealed per chapter. You will find the name at the end of the chapter! :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Hero or any of its characters. So, here we go!**

IV

REYNA 

Reyna opened her eyes and stopped concentrating. She was almost sure that her message had gotten across; she had almost felt Jason's presence next to her, just like the old days.

Reyna missed the old days, before joining the Roman camp. There had been danger and adrenaline with every step she took outside. She closed her eyes and smiled, remembering one of her favorite days…

It had started like any other day. The mother wolf, Lupa, had nudged her awake—none too gently, either—and growled that it was time for breakfast.

Her "littermates" at the time were Jason and Dakota and a couple of children of Mercury. All of them were about twelve.

"G'mornin'," Jason mumbled sleepily. His blond hair was tousled from sleep, with little bits of straw from his nest stuck randomly in it.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Reyna replied.

"Morning to you too, Reyna. Have you looked at yourself lately?" Dakota asked. As usual, her sleek black hair was perfect. Her pixie-like features bore no hint of sleepiness.

"I probably look horrible," Reyna laughed. She could just picture herself with frizzy brown hair that with straw laced in it.

"Let's start eating!" Jason cut in. "I'm hungry!"

Breakfast was a neatly killed deer that Lupa had hunted. The telltale bite at the neck was the only trace that told you the deer hadn't died naturally.

Lupa prowled around them, grunting a warning when any of them used their hands to eat. "Using your hands to eat," she always said, "will be fine when you get to camp and live amongst other humans. Until then, you will eat like your mother."

Reyna didn't hesitate to sink her teeth into the deer's hide, letting a spray of blood out. She licked it up hungrily, like a starving beggar. Nothing should go to waste. It was Lupa's kill, and she was sharing it. So the diners must respect the kill or seem disrespectful to the massive wolf herself.

To most people, it would have looked barbaric. But not to them. That was how they ate, and eating meant survival.

The deer's raw flesh was tough. Apparently this deer was well muscled and fast. Lupa's kill was an impressive one, to be sure.

When they had finished, Lupa dragged the carcass away. She growled, "Today is the day, my pups, that you will go to camp. I have taught you the way of the wolf. It is your duty to carry it within you."

Reyna had felt trapped in the amber depths of her wolf mother's stare. The gaze Lupa fixed them with was what Reyna imagined to be the gaze she gave her prey.

"How will we get to camp?" asked Dakota tentatively. Normally to Lupa, questions showed weakness and therefore the questioner was not worth keeping. But Dakota always was Lupa's favorite pup; she was the prettiest, and the most dutiful. Plus she never talked out of turn.

"You will be able to find it," Lupa growled. She barked a laugh. "That many demigods in one place will put off a strong scent. I bet Reyna can smell them from here." Lupa only thought Reyna was worth keeping because of her combat ability and sharp senses. In other words, Reyna was a perfect hunter.

Reyna could only detect a faint scent on the breeze, but didn't say so. She didn't want to lose Lupa's confidence in her.

"Remember, children," Lupa continued, "that you are all my pups. And my pups will not show weakness to anyone. Make me proud." She looked at Jason. "You will make a fine leader one day." She turned to Dakota. "You will make your godly mother proud." At last, she fixed Reyna in her cold stare. "Daughter of the Battlefield, remember what you are fighting for, always." Then she turned and left, as though dismissing her litter.

They scrambled out of the Wolf House before Lupa came back and kicked them out.

Reyna smiled. She had felt so proud that day. She had led her littermates and friends to the camp, tracking by her keen sense of smell. Lupa had been right, that it wasn't so hard to find so many demigods in one place.

"I do remember what I'm fighting for," she whispered. She made a fist and pressed it to her collarbone. "I promise to remember, always, like you said."

Reyna wasn't quite sure she knew what she was fighting for, though. Her purpose had always been clearer when she was wounded and in battle, like when they had toppled the throne of Krios last year. She had never felt so alive.

Flashback

Reyna's vision was foggy. She struggled to breathe as her broken ribs burned. That was it. Pain could only be described as fire, being set on fire.

Jason was the leader. He had ordered her to stand down.

Reyna shrugged, causing molten lava to pour from her shoulders into her chest. The only ones who followed orders were stupid or dumb enough to get caught.

"I won't get caught, and they need me," she said aloud. She wished she had some ambrosia or nectar, but they hadn't had any to give her. There were more serious wounds to tend to than a couple broken ribs.

Fresh blood stained her shirt as she stood up and pulled her Imperial gold gladius from its sheath. She coughed, and a few drops of red trickled out the side of her mouth.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the world spun. Lupa's voice in her head told her, "You're pushing too hard. Rest. Your body was not built to endure such damage."

"Forgive me, Lupa," she whispered. Her voice broke as a crack of pain, like lightning, ripped through her.

She drew her sword and charged, screaming. Her vision sharpened to acuity beyond any mortal's. It was amazing. Her sense of smell also increased, the reek of blood making her a little dizzy. Her hearing sharpened, and picked out the sound of Jason's heartbeat. It was weaker than the others. He had gone into battle himself with a barely healed shattered wrist. He would be weak in a battle.

She ran. The pain was numb, for now. She could feel adrenaline coursing through her veins, pumping. It gave her energy.

She reached the throne room just as the Titan Krios was about to drive his spear through Jason.

She screamed in rage and agony, and he was startled. He brought the spear down. It missed, grazing his side. There was no responding scream, just a grunt. He sat up and scrambled for his sword.

Reyna charged, stabbing her sword into his neck. Golden blood poured out, and he fell, trying to pull the sword out. Jason slit his neck again.

"No, no!" Krios groaned, as his breathing became a deep rattle. "No…"

He slumped to the ground and his body faded. He was immortal, but had been killed, at least for a little while.

Reyna was still on her feet, breathing hard. She felt no triumph. Mostly she was concentrating on not collapsing like some prissy idiot.

Jason staggered over. His face was pale. "I told you… to stand down… you were injured. You could have… died…"

Reyna shrugged, which sent a jolt of fire through her. The acuity of her senses was gone. The numbness was gone. Her vision seemed blurrier than usual.

"Yeah, well, you would have died, too. You were also hurt." Her breathing came in ragged gasps. "How's… that cut…"

Suddenly Reyna felt like her bones had melted, and there was blackness. From somewhere far away, Jason was calling between gasps, "I need a medic, fast…"

And everything disappeared for a while.

When she woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she was okay. The pain had faded. She was a little sore and stiff, but that was fine.

Jason was sitting next to her. He looked better than before.

"Did you get some nectar?" Reyna asked. She shifted from her position on the ground, sitting up. She winced.

"Yeah. I'm fine now. Just tired." Tired was an understatement. His normally electric blue eyes seemed dead.

"You're like the walking dead," Reyna said, smiling. "You really should get some sleep."

"Well, there's something I need to tell you first…"

"Okay," Reyna said cautiously. "What?"

"It's about you following orders."

She groaned. "Oh, that."

"There was a reason I told you to stand down. You could've died! What if the broken ribs had pierced through your heart? Did you think of that?"

She shrugged. "No…" she began.

"If you died, the Mars cabin would've lost their leader. Did you want that? If you'd died, we would've lost one of our best fighters." He stopped suddenly, and his voice softened. "And how do you think I'd have felt if you died, and it was my fault? How do you think I'd have felt if you died fighting Krios? It would've been my fault for being a horrible leader."

"What about you?" she demanded, anger rising through the sleepy numbness. "You were hurt. You challenged Krios while injured. I'm not the only moron here!" she snapped.

He groaned and rubbed his temples. "That's different! A broken wrist doesn't mean I'm in danger of dying!"

"Yes, it does! It means you can't block with your sword! It means that Krios could've killed you! Gods, Jason! I didn't want you to die! That's all! Can't you—you bullheaded idiot—see that I just didn't want to lose you?"

There was a lapse of silence.

"It's nice to know you cared so much," he said as he cracked a smile.

She huffed. "Okay, now I'm making it technical. Fact: the camp needs you. Fact: you're our leader. Fact: if you'd died, Jupiter would've taken it out on me. Fact: I promised him to keep you safe! Fact: I did my job! Can't you say _thank you for saving me_?"

He looked like he'd been slapped, the smile slowly fading. "Fine. Be that way." He stood up and turned to leave, but his knees buckled. "Lucky you. Guess I'm not going anywhere until I sleep."

He curled up on the floor, facing away from her. He was at least eight paces away from her spot on the floor.

Reyna hated herself right then. She wasn't good with people. Why couldn't she be a normal girl who could just admit she cared about someone?

She took a deep breath. She could tell that Jason wasn't asleep.

"Hey. I'm sorry," Reyna said.

There was no response.

"Okay, I know that was over the top. And I'm sorry. I'm not good with people. That comes with being a child of Mars."

She waited, but there was no response.

"And… maybe I'm so defensive and mad all the time because it's slowly tearing me apart. Being near you."

He grunted. "Thanks. That makes me feel much better. Now I'M the cause of all your problems, huh?"

"No! I don't mean it like that," she said quickly. "What I mean is… maybe that…" The next words stuck in her throat. But luckily for her she didn't have to say them.

Next thing she knew, Jason was by her side. He kissed her, brushing his lips along the side of her face. She smiled.

"I know how it feels," he breathed. "I could've told you years ago, but I was afraid…"

"Why?" she whispered back.

"Your eyes. They had this hard look like you could survive anything. And you yourself… you were always so strong. And you were always talking about how those pretty princesses were worthless and dumb, just waiting around for their Prince Charming. You weren't like a normal girl. When all the other girls seemed to like me, you were indifferent. You rolled your eyes and called them stupid under your breath."

"You took a big risk today," Reyna breathed. "But it was the right risk."

"_Te amo," _Jason whispered, in Latin. ***I love you.* **

"_Et te amo_," Reyna answered. ***And I love you. ***

Reyna, in real time and not memories, felt a stabbing pain in her chest. She missed Jason, missed how afterwards they'd been inseparable. She smiled at the memory of the victory celebration. She'd danced with him all night, and they'd had their first real kiss underneath the laurel tree. The only part she'd change was the fact that she'd worn a dress. He'd looked awkward in a tux, which had been really funny.

Actually, none of the demigods had looked comfortable. Their ADHD sides had been feeling twitchy in such restricting outfits.

Reyna laughed out loud, remembering Dakota staring murderously at her cabin mates who'd declared the dress formal.

Dakota, though a daughter of Venus, couldn't be any less typical. She was Asian, with pale skin and jet-black hair to contrast. There were a couple of freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. Her build was small and delicate, and all of her features were expressive and pixie-like. Her skin was always flawlessly smooth, as was her hair. This annoyed Dakota to no end. To make up for her tiny size, she was immensely quick and flexible, and could beat almost anyone in the camp in hand-to-hand combat. As Reyna's half-brother Devon had once said, "Gods, does that girl hit hard!"

Devon was about half a foot taller than Dakota, but he kept his wary distance from her, a fact everyone found funny. But they should have seen the expression of dominance in Dakota's dark brown eyes.

Out of all the campers that night, Hazel had been the most serious one. Everyone else had been enjoying themselves, to some tiny extent, but Hazel stood stony-faced and turned down boy after boy to dance with. The pretty daughter of Ceres had irritated a lot of boys in the camp. With her regal expression, distant gray-green eyes, and curly light chestnut brown hair she was one of the most beautiful in camp. But she was also the hardest to get.

Reyna's friend Gwen had been the happiest, which was no surprise. Gwen was always happy, even during war. Against Krios' army, Gwen had laughed and spun around smiling as she bit through monster after monster with her dagger.

Gwen had blue eyes, like Jason, but while his were usually faraway and misty hers were full of life and joy. When she was mad, however, they burned and smoldered like blue fire.

Her hair was a carefree golden blond that was usually swept back in a low ponytail, with a few strands left out to fly free. Her face always had a hint of a smile on it, with the corners of her mouth always turned slightly upwards. There wasn't a person alive who hated the sunny daughter of Apollo; it just wasn't possible to be mad at her.

Then there was weird, geeky Bobby. He had these copper-rimmed giant glasses that made his eyes look huge and buggy. His red-brown hair was short, but always spiked up in some dysfunctional way. There were always stains of some kind of slime or oil or gunk in weird places on his clothes, like under his arm or on his pant leg or even right over his bellybutton (and he would point it out to you, like: "Hey, guys, check out this sulfuric acid stain! It's directly over my bellybutton!") Bobby just wasn't a person who fit in with the world. For some reason, he tagged along with the group, and nobody had had the heart to throw him out. Bobby was a son of Minerva, but he was way crazier and weirder than his siblings. Maybe there was just something wrong with him.

No matter how weird it was, Reyna hated it when her whole family of friends wasn't together. Which meant she needed Jason in it to feel complete.

This sucked.

That chapter was kinda filler… so…

**Oh, yeah. This chapter's quest member is…**

**REYNA**


	5. Come Fly With Me

**Yay! Chapter 4 has finally been finished! This is Chapter 5! **

**For those of you who love music, I'm going to type the names of songs you can listen to in order to get how the characters are feeling. **

**So, this chapter, try listening to "To The Sky" by Owl City. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost Hero or any of its characters. **

V

JASON

"_Di immortales_!" shouted Annabeth, the blond daughter of Athena. "How did you people finish the _Argo II _so fast?"

Leo grinned sheepishly. "Um… it's kind of what we were meant to do," he said, gesturing to his siblings.

"Hephaestus is supposed to be good at building," Nyssa said matter-of-factly. "And he's our dad."

"Plus we prayed to him a lot," added Jake Mason, the cabin leader. "And he sort of helped us."

"That means we can set sail soon! All we need to do is bring food, and water, and clean clothes, and… Gods! You should've told me sooner! Then I could've organized it all and had it done by now!" Annabeth exclaimed, running her fingers through her blond hair.

"Um…" Nyssa said, "Annabeth, it took us two months. You count that as fast?"

Jason approached right then, behind the Hephaestus cabin. "I'm assuming from Annabeth's screaming that you guys did something awesome… Holy Zeus!" Startled, he backed up. "Whoa, you guys are done! Why didn't you tell me sooner! Then I could've gotten everyone organized, and… Gods! What's up with you guys?"  
>"We were kind of busy, you know, testing it," Nyssa said.<p>

"And, um, it kind of took all of our people to do it," Leo added helpfully.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Okay, I get it." He turned to Annabeth. "Should I tell Chiron? Who should I inform to get ready?"

"You pick your crew," Annabeth said, "but I have a few suggestions. Here's a list." She rummaged around in her backpack. She pulled out a slightly crumpled-looking piece of paper. "I was thinking that you should _definitely _bring Nico, he'll be a big help…"

Jason looked at the list. In Annabeth's scrawl it read:

_Nico- helpful if needed in a fight (HADES)_

_Piper- may be needed for charmspeak if we run into problems (APHRODITE)_

_Leo- of course, to keep the ship running (HEPHAESTUS)_

_Nyssa- for backup (HEPHAESTUS)_

_Will- good healer, in case of emergency (APOLLO)_

_Shay- daughter of the goddess of magic, may be useful (HECATE)_

_Katie- can cook and make plants grow, will be useful on voyage (DEMETER)_

_Clarisse- able fighter (ARES)_

The list continued about five more names, but since Jason was ADHD he couldn't stand reading them all in one sitting.

He noted that Annabeth hadn't put herself down, but she didn't need to. He was going to bring her anyway. Partly because she was a brilliant strategist and fighter. Partly because he knew she wanted to see her boyfriend.

Jason randomly wondered whether or not his girlfriend at the other camp missed him. Then he remembered Piper.

Piper, gorgeous daughter of Aphrodite, was one of his best friends. Her eyes were like a kaleidoscope, changing color all the time. She was Cherokee, with choppy brown hair and little braids down the sides. She hated dresses and makeup, very un-typical of a daughter of Aphrodite. But she wasn't an Airheaded model—she actually had a brain.

Piper bounded up to him, smiling her dazzling smile. Her eyes were currently a soft blue-green color.

A memory shot through his mind, of another girl with blue-green eyes. She had a long, dark red-brown braid swinging behind her with a metal ring around it. She was smiling, but she wasn't as pretty as Piper. The girl radiated confidence and strength and warmth. She seemed to be a person you wanted to know.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine," Jason said dumbly.

"You looked kind of weird…"

"Everything's weird now." Jason rubbed his temples. "I mean, I wake up in bed and think I'm at the Roman camp. Then I open the door and get out of the cabin and realize I'm here. Then I go look for one of my old friends, and I find someone else, and ask where my friend is, and they say nobody like that exists, and—" He cut himself off. "Sorry for rambling."

Piper was smiling again, which somewhat annoyed him. He wasn't trying to be funny or anything. Now her eyes were brown. That reminded him of a daughter of Venus—Dakota, at the Roman camp.

Her eyes flickered and changed to blue. Now it reminded him of his other friend, Gwendolyn. Gwen, as he remembered, was always happy and sunny. It made him sad that he couldn't remember anything else.

"You're kind of creeping me out," Piper said quizzically. "You just kept staring at me, and not saying anything…" She blushed.

He found his face turning red. "Uh… it's just that… you just reminded me of one of my old friends."

"Really? Who?" She leaned towards him, eager for a story from his memory.

"Her name was Gwen," he started. "And… what I remember is that she's probably the coolest person I've ever met. She's a daughter of Apollo. She's got blue eyes and blond hair, and she can kick anybody's butt at basketball or archery or baseball. She smiles all the time, and even when she's not smiling, the corners of her mouth are still kind of turned up.

"Gwen usually fights with a ranged weapon, like a spear or a javelin or a crossbow. She hates blades.

"She could always make the best of anything, always find a reason to laugh or smile. She made you happy inside, just watching her." He trailed off, as a flash of memory ran through his brain. It was of a girl laughing. She sounded like a meadowlark.

Piper's eyes were green now, like his friend Hazel's. Except Piper's were warm, and Hazel's were usually distant and stony. Hazel was like a perfect queen. Being near her made you feel uncomfortable, like she was royalty and you had to bow or curtsy or whatever so she wouldn't order for your head to be chopped off. Where that came from, Jason had no idea. Maybe some story… Alice in Wonderland? "Off with her head!"

Jason cleared his throat. "Um… I have to go get some people ready for our trip. Do you want to come on the trip?"

Her eyes sparkled. "Of course!"

Jason started walking to the Hecate cabin, where he was likely to find Shay. Usually she spent a lot of time alone, pacing around a room and muttering to herself. You could tell how Shay was feeling, due to a tattoo of a bracelet on her left wrist. If she was happy, the tattoo was bright gold. If she was mad, the tattoo was red. Generally, Shay was an excited or in a random mood, so it was green.

Even before he knocked on the door, it swung open. A grinning Shay stood right inside, with a green bracelet tattoo.

Jason jumped about ten feet in the air. "Oh… hi."

Shay had dark brown hair, almost black, and violet eyes that randomly flickered with luminescent bursts when she was around people. She smiled. "Hey, Jason. You want to go boarding?" Her eyes suddenly sputtered to life and glowed, then faded. She frowned. "Are you okay? Something's not right with you."

"Nice guess," he said. "A lot of things aren't right with me." He was being sarcastic, which wasn't exactly nice, especially when he wanted Shay along on the quest.

Her brow furrowed. "No, besides the obvious, I mean." She laughed. Then she stopped when she saw his serious face. "You know I'm kidding, right? You've got to be a kid sometimes! You're only what, sixteen?"

"They counted me as a man," he said without meaning to. "The Romans, I mean." He mentally face-palmed himself. If he was going around telling everybody what bothered him, he was going to look like a super pathetic leader.

Shay nodded sympathetically, like she had picked up on that last thought. For all Jason knew, she had. The daughter of Hecate had a lot of unknown abilities. "You know, things are different here," she began.

"I know that," he snapped. He didn't mean to. It just… slipped out.

"Of course you do! All I mean is that nobody here's expecting you to be an adult." Then an inexplicable look crossed her face. "You had to grow up fast at the other camp, didn't you? You were a real adult there!"

Jason didn't feel like saying anything. He just wanted to get this over with. "Shay, will you come on the quest?"

"Do you need to ask?" she returned.

Jason felt brain-dead right then and couldn't figure out if that meant yes or no. "Will you just answer the question?'

"Sheesh! Testy much? Of course I'm coming, you big dummy!" At those words, a flicker of recognition crossed Jason. It was of another girl, the one with the red-brown braid and blue-green eyes. She was saying, _"Of course, you big dummy! Don't you know me well enough?" _

Shay's eyes flickered again, only brighter and longer. And they kept spluttering on and off like a broken switch. She was triumphant. "You remembered something!"

"Yeah. So what?"

"That's good. That's really good. Maybe everything will come back, eventually." Her face brightened. "Hey, want to go boarding?"

"What kind of boarding?" Jason asked warily. Shay was an expert surfer, skateboarder, snowboarder, you name it.

"I call it wind-boarding," she replied. "Want to come? It'll be a snap. And it'll clear your head. That looks like something you could use."

"Okay."

Jason was standing on a surfboard with Shay, floating at least fifty feet above the ground. Being a child of Zeus and all, that should've been fine. Except that he was tired and didn't think the winds would catch him if he fell.

"Are you insane?" he called out, the wind snatching most of the sound away.

"Probably," Shay called back. "Hold on to me or you'll fall off!" At this, he grabbed her waist. If it had been any other girl, he would've been nervous about it, but Shay was like a sister to him, nothing else.

"How are we floating?"

"I charmed the board! Duh!" Shay exclaimed.

"Oh. Okay." Jason didn't want to look too stupid. Shay leaned forward.

The board dipped down and started zooming forward. Shay was screaming, probably exhilarated, as the wind slapped in their faces. Jason was probably screaming too, although he was just plain scared.

Then Shay started climbing, up and up, until the ground was so tiny below them. "I'm gonna dive!" she warned.

"Slowly!" Jason begged.

"Fine!"

They dropped down in what seemed like a slightly—just barely—controlled freefall. Jason's grip on Shay's waist tightened as he started slipping. His face felt like it was peeling off.

"You call this slow?" he shouted.

"Yes!" Shay yelled back.

"You're crazy!"

"Big surprise there!"

"Stop it! We're gonna crash!" Jason yelled, as the ground got closer and closer. They were going to slam into it at maximum speed. Suddenly, the board jerked to a halt. He felt like he'd left his stomach about fifty feet above them.

"There! I stopped!" Shay said. "Are you happy?"

"Let me off onto solid ground. Then I'll be happy."

Shay rolled her eyes and muttered, "They just don't make heroes the way they used to, huh?"

"What?"

"Never mind." Shay started to descend, spinning in slow, controlled circles until they reached the ground.

"So how was it?" she asked when they touched down.

He grinned. "Horrible. You're a freak."

"I thought so," Shay said back, smiling happily. She flipped the hair out of her face.

"Thanks for the adrenaline rush."

"No problem, bro. Anytime you want or need it."

"You're really cool, you know that?"

Shay smiled. "Yes, in fact, I do. Now get going and do your job, Sparky." She playfully punched him in the arm. Except it actually kind of hurt.

"Jeez, Shay." Then it hit him. "_Sparky_?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"Why, you little—!" Jason couldn't think of a name strong enough to call her. So he gave up on trying and just said, "See you around, Miss Clair Voyant."

Her face was priceless—outraged, surprised, and insulted all at once. "I'm not a clairvoyant! Jeez!"

Jason decided to run when she opened her mouth and started talking in Greek. A spell was probably coming on.

"_Animus morpheus—_" 

Jason bolted, and decided to go find Clarisse, daughter of Ares.

Clarisse was in the practice arena, stabbing straw dummies with her spear.

She was tall and buff, with stringy brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail. The ponytail appeared to be tied with barbed wire.

Jason approached a bit nervously, after seeing her attack the dummies so ferociously. He didn't want to be speared.

He cleared his throat. "Um… Clarisse?"

"HAH!" She turned to him with her spear, almost gutting him, sort of like a reflex. The wild light in her eyes faded. Her eyes seemed to darken. "Oh. Sorry. What do you want?"

The way she talked reminded him of the girl with the red-brown braid from his memory.

"Uh, I kind of wanted to ask you if you wanted to join us on the quest to get Percy Jackson back," Jason stated.

"Huh. That pig-headed runt again." She shouldered her spear, suddenly looking wistful. "I remember when he got me back for the toilet-dunking… Yeah, I miss the guy. I'm coming. Will I get to kill stuff on the way?"

"Probably," Jason said. "So are you in?"

"I'm freakin' in." She smiled. "Hey, Jason—stay out of people's spear paths, alright? You're not Achilles." A shadow crossed her face. "Achilles…" she muttered. "Gods, was Jackson stupid."

Jason decided not to ask what Clarisse was talking about. So he left.

**YAY! This chapter's member-of-the-seven is… JASON! **

**Hope you liked it! Would you ever go on a ride with Shay, or would you run away? **


	6. Runaway

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Also, thanks for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost Hero or any of its characters. **

VI

PERCY

Percy peered out the window of the Neptune cabin. He bounced on his bed anxiously.

The moon was barely there, just a tiny crescent of white against the midnight blue sky.

He felt trapped here, like a rodent in a cat's paw. Sure, maybe his dad _was _Neptune, but he felt like an outsider in the Roman camp.

"I don't belong here," he muttered. It felt good to say it, even if nobody else had heard.

He could imagine the other campers arguing back at him, "Of course you do! You're a demigod, and this is the only safe place for them." That's what they had done on his first day.

Being alone on the run had felt more… right than staying at this camp. The people here were so formal and strict. Their faces always seemed like blank masks. And even the people who were dating each other rarely smiled at each other, or laughed, or touched each other. It was weird. Like it was a camp full of statues rather than real kids.

Percy _thought _he remembered dating a girl. She had gray eyes and blond hair, and a cute smile. And that was pretty much all he remembered of her.

Losing his memory sucked. He couldn't really remember his old life, or even his mom's name. He remembered it started with an _S_. Selena? Sarah? Sylvia?

He remembered his last name. Jackson. A lot of people had that last name, so finding his mom in a phone book was going to be hard.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, jerking him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, you okay?"

Percy turned around, and saw the slim girl with a long braid and blue-green eyes. Reyna.

"Uh… yeah." He wanted to scream, _"No! You people freak me out! I want my memory back! I want my old life back!" _but he didn't. Showing weakness in this camp meant death.

"No, you're not okay. Just say it. You'll feel a lot better." Reyna's features were usually toughened and emotionless, like a seasoned warrior, but now her face had softened and showed concern.

"Okay, then. I'm not okay," Percy said flatly.

She laughed, which surprised him, as laughing appeared to be banned. "Jackson, you're not an automaton. None of us are. You're in your own cabin! Just act human."

_Automaton. _That word sparked a shred of recognition in his brain. Apparently he'd had a lot of experiences with automatons.

He shrugged. "Sometimes it's easier to act like a robot, you know? Especially when being human hurts."

"I know what you mean," Reyna said softly. She sat down next to him.

"I didn't know you ever felt pain," Percy teased, intending to lighten the mood.

Her eyes darkened, became haunted and hollow. "I do, Jackson. Believe me. Nobody is invincible. Everybody has an Achilles spot."

_Achilles spot. _That also reminded Percy of something. He absentmindedly moved his fingers to the small of his back. It tingled when he touched it.

"So," he said, trying again to lighten the mood. "What's your Achilles spot?"

"My Achilles spot," she repeated blankly. She sighed. "It would have to be my boyfriend."

"What?"

"Jason. He's my Achilles spot. If anything happened to him, I'd completely fall apart." She blinked at Percy. "I could take any amount of pain, even death. But if someone killed him…" Reyna didn't finish the thought. Absentmindedly, she rubbed the metallic silver bead that hung around her neck.

"People keep comparing me to him. Why?"

"He's… amazing. He killed the Titan Krios. He led the siege of Mount Othrys and toppled the black throne. And he's a praetor."

"Okay…" Percy said, not sure what to do with that information.

For a while, there was silence. Percy began to feel sleepy.

Suddenly, Reyna jumped to her feet. It yanked Percy back to focus.

"I have to leave," she said stiffly. "Be sure to get some rest." And then she marched herself out the door.

Percy let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Then he reached underneath his bed.

He pulled out a backpack, a slightly beaten-up green one. It was packed with some food, a water bottle, a change of clothes, and a photo from his pocket. It was of him, a kid with a goatee, and the blond girl, all of them laughing in front of a lake.

He patted his pocket just to make sure that his pen/sword Riptide was in it. Of course, it was. Then he opened the cabin door.

Percy stepped outside, breathing in the warm night air. He glanced around; making sure that nobody was awake.

Then he made his move, running through the darkness, away from the camp.

**Okay, that chapter was short. Sorry! The next one will be longer.**

**Spoiler alert: Leo will have a girlfriend by the end of this story. **

**Will update soon, possibly again today! **


	7. Triangles Suck

Okay, confession: Piper McLean is not my favorite character. She annoys me a bit. I mean, she's like constantly being so lovey over Jason! Jeez!

**But anyway, since I know some of you guys like Piper (chokes) here's Chapter 7. It is a Piper chapter. There will probably not be another one for a while…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lost Hero or any of its characters. **

VII

PIPER 

Piper was falling.

She plummeted like a stone through the air. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, but the wind ripped away the cries.

Piper thought, Of course this happens to me. Why do I always end up the helpless one?

She half wished that Jason would come save her, but that would be too embarrassing. She'd look totally stupid and incapable of handling herself in front of him.

She heard his voice, faintly above: "SHAY!"

Piper heard the reply, a girl's voice: "On it!"

The ground was getting closer, and her fall was accelerating. She braced herself for the bone-shattering impact.

Suddenly, something grabbed the back of her shirt and she stopped falling with a huge jerk that cut off her breath. Piper abruptly stopped screaming and gasped for air. She thrashed instinctively, trying to get free.

"Stop it!" A voice ordered. It was Shay, the weird daughter of Hecate. "You're going to make us fall if you keep doing that."

Piper obediently held herself still. She turned her head and looked at Shay.

Shay's dark hair was tangled and windswept. Her eyes glowed violet, completely violet with no pupils.

Shay inhaled, then exhaled, and they rocketed back up to the ship. The cold wind stung Piper's face.

When they reached the ship, Jason was leaning over the side. He broke into a giant grin. "Thank the gods, you made it! Are you two okay?"

Piper was shaky from the long drop. "Yeah, I think."

Shay was pumped up. "That was epic! I want to do it again!"

Jason's face turned stern. "Shay, when I told you to get Piper, I didn't mean for you to hurl yourself off the ship. And you didn't even use your board!"

"Pfft. Who needs a board when you can levitate yourself?" Shay shrugged.

"You're crazy, dude!" Leo ran up. "But that was so awesome to watch!"

Jason turned to Piper. "How did you fall off?" he asked softly, like he didn't want to embarrass her in front of the others.

"I was sort of… daydreaming. Like, a vision or something. And then I was falling." Piper felt uncomfortable with all the attention. His blue eyes were way too intense for her right now.

"What did you see in your… daydream?"

"I was watching you and a group of kids. Um… four girls and one guy."

Jason nodded, unsurprised. "Those were my friends. Uh, _are_ my friends." Then he asked, "What were we doing?"

"You were… arm wrestling the shortest girl. She had black hair. She was winning."

"That's Dakota Chan, daughter of Venus. Er, Aphrodite," he told her. He smiled slightly. "Dakota wasn't ever girly. And she could beat anyone in a fistfight."

Piper continued. "And, um, you were… holding hands with one of the girls." She hoped that she wasn't blushing. Unfortunately, she could feel the burn in her cheeks.

Jason's expression turned guarded. Piper knew she was heading into troubled waters. "Describe the girl," he said carefully.

"She had red-brown hair and these turquoise eyes with gold sparkles," Piper said.

He blushed. "Um, that was Reyna."

"Who's Reyna?" Piper questioned.

"A girl." Jason's face was red.

"No duh." Piper wasn't exactly enjoying this news. "I mean, _who was she_?"

"A really cool girl," Jason said lamely.

"Uh-huh. Was she like your girlfriend or something?" Piper pressed.

"Or something," he mumbled, looking at his shoes.

Piper was annoyed. Jason was being so _stupid. _And the fact that he had a girlfriend—_or something—_meant that Piper was ruining someone else's relationship. This didn't make her feel proud.

She could just imagine Drew, the nasty old Aphrodite counselor: _"Oh, hon, it doesn't matter! You've created a love triangle now! That means at least one heart is going to break. No, scratch that. Someone's heart will completely _shatter._" _

"I hate you, Drew." Piper's jaw clenched. She balled her hands into fists. "I don't want to break anyone's heart."

"What?" Jason asked.

"Nothing."

Piper thought, If someone's heart _does _break, I hope it isn't mine or Jason's. Then she mentally slapped herself. That wasn't a nice thought.

Gods, why did everything have to be so difficult?

Haha… that was fun. But short. Sorry I took so long in updating, but I kind of had a lot of stuff to do.

So, I still can't come up with a song for this chapter.

THIS CHAPTER'S MEMBER OF THE SEVEN IS: PIPER.


	8. Gone With the Wind

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but… I had no inspiration whatsoever. (The Piper chapter ruined my brain). Plus, I don't really get a lot of time on computer, so yeah.

**Okay, so here we go with Chapter 8! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost Hero or any of its characters.**

VIII

REYNA

"_Ubi est_?" Reyna moaned. **Translation: Where is he? **She paced around the Neptune cabin anxiously. She ground her teeth. "If Juno took him like she took Jason… She is going to be sorry."

Even though Reyna often punched or yelled at Percy, she had taken a liking to him. He was fun to be around… but he definitely was no Jason.

She scanned the room for the eighth time, hoping to find a clue that she'd missed. No luck. He hadn't left a note or anything!

"By Pluto's realm, where could the _stultus _have gone?" **Translation: **_**stultus**_** means idiot. **

Reyna stopped pacing. She closed her eyes and took a deep sniff of the room. Her eyes flickered open again. She smiled slightly. "I've found his scent." Then she opened the door and went outside.

She ran smack into Hazel, daughter of Ceres. Hazel's face was expressionless as always. "I'm assuming that the son of Neptune has gone missing," she said curtly.

"You assumed correctly," Reyna sighed. "I was tracking him by scent when you came along." She hoped that it didn't come out as reproachfully as she'd thought it had.

Luckily, Hazel didn't appear to notice (although Hazel wouldn't appear to notice anything if Lord Jupiter materialized in front of her in his boxers).

"So… should we look for him?" Hazel asked.

"Well…" Reyna's nose twitched. "Darn it! I lost his scent! There must have been fog early this morning."

"So we can't find him, even if we went out looking," Hazel summed up.

Reyna nodded gloomily. "We failed at protecting one of the seven." She winced at the word. _Failed _is not a word that the cabin leader of Mars' children should ever use.

Hazel said flatly, "I'm sure it'll all work out." This, from the most pessimistic camper ever. Then Hazel turned and left.

Reyna wandered the campgrounds, passing kids sparring and sharpening their weapons. The Roman camp had no magical defenses to protect themselves from monsters from the outside, so everybody was constantly on guard.

Reyna glumly pulled her sword, Aeterno. (It meant _eternity _in Latin). She could see her face reflected in the golden blade.

Reyna hated looking at her reflection. Number 1: it made people think she cared about how she looked. Number 2: maybe she did care, but didn't want people to know.

She recalled her dream of the girl with the color-changing eyes and brown hair. Daughter of Venus, obviously. Flawless skin. Angelic features. A smile that could melt a Fury's heart.

Reyna looked at her own reflection again. Top lip fuller than the bottom one. Freckles. An inch-long silver scar under her left eye. Zits. Fading bruises. Messy brown hair. Eyes guarded and hard, defiant. Fear glittered in their depths.

Jason hadn't judged her by her looks, even though others had. She didn't have the face of a teenage girl, like she should. She had the face of a war commander.

Reyna sheathed her sword again, mostly because she couldn't stand seeing her own face. People thought she was strong, but really—how strong was she? A couple years back, she'd almost betrayed her friends because of the goddess Nemesis.

_Happy, hope, fair, _and _luck _were words that never applied to Reyna's life. Apparently all good four letter-words hated her.

_Betrayal, hate, death, loss _and _pain _were words that popped up in her life, every day. Unfortunately, words like those didn't hesitate to pester her.

Loss. Her entire life had been nothing but loss. She'd lost her mother, her dog, her old home, her best friend, and now her boyfriend.

Pain. Loss brought pain. Pain was something to endure, not to cry over. That's what Lupa had taught her during her childhood.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," Reyna chided. She stood up. "I guess there's nothing else to do but wait."

She thought, I sure hope those Greeks hurry. Because maybe Jason's with them.

I hope this chapter helped you get to know Reyna. Sorry it's short, but like I said before, I'm low on inspiration.

Please review! They make me update faster. Also, you're welcome to throw in any scenes you want me to write.

**This chapter's member of the seven is: PERCY. **


	9. Roman Greek Reunions

**Yay! Chapter 9 is up earlier than expected... sorry for the wait, but the longer and better the chapter, the longer the delay. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: you guys know the drill...**

* * *

><p>IX<p>

LEO

For once in his life, Leo was actually lucky.

Approximately 75% of the _Argo II_'s passengers were seasick… or airsick, or whatever it was called.

Which, actually, backfired on him. It meant that while the rest of the crew was sick in the hold, he had to stay awake and steer.

Leo glanced at the active crewmembers, Shay, Jason, and Annabeth. The rest of the demigods had retreated into their bunks to sleep it off.

Shay was pacing around impatiently, dark hair whipping wildly in the wind. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

Leo told her, "If it could, I would be going faster. But we're already hurtling at about four hundred miles per hour."

Shay sniffed. "Turtle speed." She turned to Jason. "Can I go boarding?"

"No, we need you here," he said.

Shay grumbled under her breath about how people weren't any fun.

Leo watched her continue to walk back and forth, like a prowling leopard. She looked about fifteen, a year younger than him. She was about as mature as a nine-year-old, though.

Jason came up to Leo. "How much longer?"

"Well, since we've been flying for about three hours, and at the speed we're going… another three hours."

Jason sighed. "What time is it?"

"Um… twelve o'clock?"

Jason seemed satisfied by that. "Okay, then we'll be safe."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, today's Friday," Jason said, "so that means the Roman demigods are going to be off guard."

"What?"

"Every Friday, the Roman demigods have a free day. It's the only day they get to goof off, and, well, be normal. There's a talent show, a sparring competition, even a sing-along, after dinner." Jason looked wistful. "We pretty much lived for Fridays…"

"Did you guys have, like, dating there?" Leo asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"Did you have a girlfriend?" Leo asked. "Because if you did, Piper's going to be disappointed."

"Yeah, I did," Jason said, looking a bit unsettled. "Her name's Reyna." He smiled. "Brunette, with a kick-ass attitude. She was… unusual."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, for starters, she's three-quarters god, one quarter mortal. Her mom was a daughter of Minerva… er, Athena. And her own dad was Mars/Ares."

"You said _was_," Leo noticed.

"Um, yeah… her mom's dead."

"Oh."

There was silence.

"Well," Leo said uncomfortably, "thanks for sharing."

"You're welcome." Then Jason said, "Hey, want me to take the wheel for a bit?"

"You don't mind?"

"Nah."

"Okay." Leo left the ship's wheel in the hands of Jason.

He went over to Annabeth, who was staring at the passing clouds with intense concentration.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked. Annabeth fixed him with a gray-eyed stare.

"If you can call depressed _okay_," she said.

"You're worried about him, aren't you? Percy Jackson."

At his name, Annabeth seemed to crumble a little. She seemed less strong, less like a war veteran. She seemed almost… vulnerable.

"Yeah. I don't know how the Roman camp's treating him."

"They're probably not all bad, you know? Jason's pretty okay," Leo volunteered.

"What if he's the exception?" Annabeth asked. Her eyes were fierce, angry—scared.

"He won't be," Leo assured her.

"How do you know?"

Leo thought for a moment. Then he said, "Sometimes, life isn't all calculations and equations. Sometimes you have to wing it and hope for the best."

Annabeth laughed. "Well, we're definitely winging it. Jason told me that the only way we won't get mobbed by weapon-happy demigods is if we land on a Friday." She shook her head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Then she went right back to glaring at the clouds, like Leo had never been there.

* * *

><p>"Hey, we're over the Wolf House," Leo called. Immediately Jason bolted over.<p>

"Land right now," Jason ordered. He sent Shay to wake up the rest of the half bloods.

Almost immediately, Piper emerged from the hold, face pale and eyes bloodshot. She looked really sick, yet she was somehow still gorgeous.

"Hey." She put her hand on Jason's shoulder.

Leo suddenly recalled that Jason had had another girlfriend.

"Hey. How you doing?" Jason asked.

"Mmm. Better than before," she said. She looked completely wiped out, though.

"We're going to have to hike a bit," Jason said. "So I hope you're up to it."

"Of course I'm up to it!"

The ship touched down, and Leo directed everybody to get off. He muttered to Jason, "You sure you know where it is?"

"I've got a feeling."

Unhelpfully, the song "I've Got A Feeling" popped into Leo's head. He cursed under his breath; he didn't even _like _that song.

Led by Jason, the group of airsick demigods hiked through the Redwoods.

Leo kept banging on his head, trying to rid himself of the Black Eyed Peas. It didn't work.

It was going to be a long hike.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, Jason stopped at a hill.<p>

"Walk straight forward," he commanded.

"Dude!" Leo called out. "You're going to walk straight into… whoa."

Jason melted through the grass-covered hill. The rest of them followed suit.

The Roman camp amazed Leo.

It was surrounded by hills, so in a sense it was a valley. There were lots of cabins, each of them made out of brick, but painted different colors. A huge campfire flared at the end of the rows of cabins, with a couple of girls tending to it. There was a dining pavilion, made out of marble—like the one at Camp Half-Blood—where a lot of kids chatted or snacked. And there was an archery field, with about seven targets. A couple kids were practicing there. There was a river by the cabins, where several demigods splashed each other.

But most of them were at the huge amphitheatre, watching two demigods spar. The crowd cheered and egged the fighters on.

Both of the fighters wore purple t-shirts. One of them, a buff guy with short brown hair, was jabbing at the other one with his spear. The other looked like a girl, with long and lean legs. Her hair was tucked up in a baseball cap, which reminded Leo of Annabeth.

"Um, where do we go now?" Leo asked Jason.

"Let's go check out the amphitheatre," he answered. They trudged down the hill, to the massive crowd.

"MATCH: LOPEZ!" somebody shouted. The girl-looking fighter seemed tired, but proud. The crowd cheered, but a few people booed. Money was changing hands.

All of a sudden, Jason took off and ran to the crowd.

The girl looked up at that moment, and her eyes widened. She yanked the cap off of her head, and a long coppery brown braid tumbled down. "JASON GRACE!" she shouted. "Where the heck have you been?" She ran off the stage and pushed her way through the swarm of people.

Leo caught up to them. Up close, he could see that the girl had blue-green eyes speckled with gold flecks, like imperfect gems. And she had a few freckles across the bridge of her nose.

The girl hugged Jason, who winced at the force. When she saw Leo, she let go promptly. "Who's that?" she demanded, eyes narrowed slightly.

The rest of the Greek demigods arrived.

"Um…" Jason began, "it's kind of a long story…"

Piper stepped forward. "We need your help. You have to hear us out!" Apparently she was using charmspeak, because nobody drew his or her weapons… yet.

The girl with the braid leveled her golden sword. "_Video feciltis novi_," she said coldly. **Translation: I see you've made new friends. **"_Jason, memento iura ubi iacet_." **Translation: Jason, remember where your loyalties lie. **

Jason apparently knew that language, because he switched to it. "_Quid id non amici novi_?" he asked, smiling wryly. **Translation: What, can't I make new friends? **

The girl didn't smile. "The consul will see you. But not all of the half-bloods."

"Can I bring a few people?"

The girl deliberated, considering. "Three."

"Annabeth, Piper, and Leo," Jason said. "Will you guys come?"

"Of course," Annabeth said. Her gray eyes were stony.

"Did you really need to ask, bro?" Leo said.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Piper smiled.

The girl's expression didn't change, but her eyes suddenly grew icier.

"Whoa, dude. What's her problem?" Leo muttered.

"Um, that's Reyna…"

"Ohh," Leo said, recalling their earlier conversation. He teased, "Girlfriend fight alert!"

"Shut up, Valdez," Jason muttered.

Reyna sniffed, a big sniff, like she smelled the air. "A daughter of Minerva. A son of Vulcan… who smells like fire. And, judging by her reek, a daughter of Venus." Her eyes flashed. "I see you chose a charmspeaker. She better not try any of her tricks."

"Reyna, you've got to trust me," Jason pleaded. Leo thought it was funny; Jason was at least three inches taller than Reyna, and he was begging.

"Don't talk to me about trust—" she began.

"I know: it's just _rust _with a 't' stuck in front to disguise it. You told me before." Suddenly Jason looked sad. "If you won't _trust _me, you've at least got to believe in me!"

"I did believe in you, and look what you did with it." Reyna glared at Piper.

"Piper's just a friend!" Piper looked upset by this.

"Shut the hell up, Grace, before I decide to kill you and be done with it." Somebody snickered—probably Shay.

"Like I said before, the consul will see you. They will pass judgment." Reyna led Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Leo away.

* * *

><p>They were seated in a clearing in the woods, with several war-hardened looking demigods. Reyna was shooting daggers with her eyes at Piper, who was holding hands with an anxious Jason.<p>

"Let the consul commence!" Reyna shouted. She looked warily at Annabeth, whose hand rested conveniently on her dagger.

A guy with bright green eyes asked, "So what's the problem?"

"The problem, David, is what Jason and his new _friends _want," Reyna said, with biting sarcasm.

A strawberry blonde girl with pale blue eyes said, "Let Jason speak."

"The prophecy of the seven demigods brought us here," Jason began. "Juno exchanged leaders between the camps so that we might learn of each other and unite forces. Speaking of which, where's Percy Jackson?"

The consul members exchanged weary glances. "He ran away," blurted the David guy at last. "Reyna said so herself."

Annabeth stifled a sob. She covered her face.

Reyna's expression softened. "Annabeth, was it?" Annabeth nodded slightly. "It's okay. I know how you feel. But we'll find him, I promise."

Reyna's eyes rested on Jason, who looked away.

"What should we do about the… Greeks?" another guy asked.

The strawberry blonde girl said, "The house of Venus vouches for them to be treated as honored guests."

A girl with jet-black hair and gray eyes said, "The house of Minerva vouches this also." She glanced at Annabeth. "I will speak to this one afterwards and exchange information, so we may determine further action."

Reyna nodded slightly. "Good idea, Jezebel. I will speak to Jason myself."

"Dismissed," said David, and everybody went their separate ways.

* * *

><p><strong>So... how did you like it? This chapter's member-of-the-seven is... LEO! <strong>

**Spoiler: Next chapter will be Jason... and we're going to find out just how SHOUTY Reyna can be! **


	10. Fine, So Talk

**Sorry for the wait! Hope you enjoy! Oh, yeah. Since I haven't been doing it… the song that goes with this chapter is "Animal" by the Neon Trees.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TLH or any of its characters.**

X

JASON

Reyna yanked him aside, eyes fierce and a little wild, like a cornered animal. "I need to talk to you… _privately_," she hissed.

Jason waved Leo and Piper off reluctantly. But he knew he could handle himself if Reyna got out of control.

"Okay, so let's talk." He waited warily.

"First off, what's with you and the Greek girl?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." She glared at him defiantly.

He said nothing, staring back at her blue-green eyes.

"Fine." Reyna's jaw clenched. "Don't tell me."

He continued to stare at her.

"What the hell, Jason! I've known you since we were seven, and you won't tell me what's going on between you and a girl? Seriously!" she huffed.

Jason sighed. "I have rights, you know."

"Yeah, but you can't tell your _best friend _something about a girl?"

"I don't even know you," Jason frowned. He tapped his head. "Amnesia, you know."

"You are the _single most annoying _person in the universe!" Reyna screamed, a crazy light in her eyes.

"I don't know you!"

Reyna folded her arms. Then a slow smile spread across her face.

Jason was seriously scared. This girl was unpredictable and dangerous.

"She's _reaaaallly _pretty," Reyna smirked.

His face burned. "None of your business."

"AHA! I hit something there," Reyna sang.

"Shut up!"

"You like her, don't you? I can see it written all over your face."

"What? If Leo wrote on me, I swear I'll—"

"No, stupid, it's a figure of speech," Reyna interrupted snidely.

"Oh." He'd become too worked up to notice.

"So, what have I missed since you left?" She changed the subject suddenly.

"I can't really explain—"

She cut him off. "You mean you _won't _explain. TRY."

So Jason gave her a rundown of everything that had happened. The entire time, her intense eyes never left his face.

When he'd finished, Reyna nodded. "Okay, I see." Her expression was troubled. "So… do you remember… anything?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sort of, but unclearly."

"Let's give you a test. Who's my godly parent?"

"Um, Mars."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen?"

"How old were you when you met me?"

"Seven?"

"Which Titan did you kill last summer?"

"Aren't they immortal?"

"Do I care?"

"Uh… no, probably not."

"So which Titan?" she pressed.

"Krios!" he nearly shouted.

Reyna snorted. "Your memory seems fine to me." They stood in silence for a while.

"So, um… were we, like, dating before?" Jason asked. His face was probably about the same color as a tomato.

"Yeah… kind of… except, it was sort of a secret from everybody else."

"Wha—?"

"See, um, we sort of were… rivals, you could say. And it was sort of weird… so, um, yeah." Her face was the same shade of scarlet as his.

"Okay… sorry I asked…" She was glaring at him with an intensity that made him uneasy.

"No, it's okay." Reyna let out a breath. "It's just… um… sort of annoying for me. Like, I have you back again, but you don't remember..." She didn't finish.  
>"Sorry to be <em>annoying<em>," Jason said sarcastically, trying to break the ice.

Reyna cracked a smile for the first time since he'd seen her, and Jason thought, _She's got a cute smile_.

Her smile transformed her face from an angry, hardened commander of war to a normal teenage girl's. It made her look… pretty cute, instead of just tough and intimidating.

That was a thing about Reyna he didn't understand: she was pretty short, and yet she radiated authority that made you want to straighten up and salute.

"Well, that's new," she said, still grinning. "Usually I'm the one who makes the jokes. Is your friend over there rubbing off on you?" She jabbed a thumb in Leo's general direction.

"How would you know that?"

"He seems like a clown. A total wisecrack."

"Yeah, that seems about right," Jason said, and rolled his eyes. "Leo Valdez is like his own stand-up comedian show."

"He smells like fire," Reyna brought up suddenly. "What's up with that? I mean, Vulcan kids usually smell like metal, and he does, but…"

"Leo's a fire-user," Jason explained. "So, like, he can summon fire like I can summon lightning."

Her eyes widened, and Jason could see the gold flecks shimmer in them. "But… the last one…" She didn't finish the thought.

"I know, but we can trust him. He's a good guy."

She raised an eyebrow. "You know me and _trust_…"

Jason sighed, exasperated. "Can't you get over it?" Even though he wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"Maybe. Probably not. When you trust somebody and they betray you enough, it sort of repels you from trusting again."

"Wonderful," he grumbled. "My old girlfriend doesn't _trust _me." He searched her face, hoping she'd say, _"Of course I trust you! Why wouldn't I?"_

Reyna looked down at the ground, arms folded. Her silence was enough to answer him.

* * *

><p>"So, what did she talk to you about?" Piper asked, walking next to him. As usual, Leo hung back, fiddling with some new gizmo. Reyna was far behind Leo, eyes narrowed slightly with the calculating focus of a crocodile.<p>

Jason groaned inwardly. He'd been hoping to avoid this conversation.

"Stuff," he said lamely.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Um… really stuff-ish stuff."

"Uh-huh." She raised an eyebrow. "Was this stuff-ish stuff something about… you and me?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe means yes, doesn't it?"

"Maybe. What do you think?"

"I think it means yes."

"Okay, fine."

Piper apparently figured out then that he didn't feel like talking much, so she shut up.

They finished walked back to the heart of camp in silence.

Jason found out that the Romans could actually be normal sometimes.

Nobody was sparring in the amphitheatre anymore. Instead, the Apollo cabins from both groups were on stage, playing instruments and singing pop songs.

Roman and Greek demigods mingled, dancing like normal teenagers. All except for Nico Di Angelo.

He hung away from the crowd, all by himself like a lone wolf. Dressed entirely in black, he seemed exceptionally small.

Jason went over to Nico. "Hey, man. You don't have to be alone all the time, you know."

Nico shrugged, dark brown eyes hollow like death. "Nobody wants me around."

Jason heard the unspoken words: _Because they're afraid of me_.

"Try dancing. Mingle. Maybe find a girl." Jason suggested.

"Yeah, a ghost girl, maybe." Nico smiled without humor. For a thirteen-year-old kid, he seemed pretty mature.

At that moment, Shay bounded up, purple eyes luminescent. "Yo, Dead Boy! Go dance! Act like you're alive, instead of hanging around like a rock all day."

She yanked him by the elbow and dragged him into the crowd, until the son of Hades had blended in with the other demigods.

Jason smiled at the sight of Nico protesting and kicking Shay, to no avail.

* * *

><p>The rest of Friday was spent doing all sorts of fun activities. Jason wished that the day would never end.<p>

But soon enough, he found that everybody was going to bed; the Greeks were sleeping in the Roman versions of their godly parents' cabins.

Jason stayed up by himself, walking away from camp to a hill with a laurel tree. He stared at the horizon.

"Is it possible to be homesick when you're home?" he muttered to himself. The Roman camp was his home, but it felt like he knew the Greek camp better.

He kicked the ground. "SPQR," he said aloud as he traced a finger across the letters burned into his arm. Once they had held so much meaning to him. Now, not so much.

"_Senatus Populusque Romanus_," somebody said behind him. "The Senate and People of Rome."

Jason whirled around to face Reyna, leaning lightly against the lone laurel tree. She smirked at the surprise on his face. "Somebody's getting rusty—didn't you know I was here?"

In the moonlight, her face appeared bone white, dappled with shadows. It made her look like a ghost.

"Were you spying on me?" he demanded, glad for the darkness as his face burned.

"No. I usually come to this place every night."

"Oh."

They sat in silence.

"What brings you here?" Reyna asked after what seemed like an eternity.

"I needed some time to think."

"Well, you can do that better without me here." She turned to leave.

"Stay."

"What?" She looked at him, blue-green eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Just… please, stay."

"Okay, if you say so…" she continued to stare at his face.

Jason could see the gold flecks in her eyes, shimmering in their depths like fairy dust.

She undid her braid, pulling off the metal ring at the end. Her wavy brown hair, shining silver, flowed halfway down her back like water. She pulled it over her right shoulder, leaving a few strands hanging in her face.

Jason caught his breath. Reyna looked just as beautiful as Piper right now, with none of the Aphrodite-beauty thing to help. Even with the scar under her left eye.

And so, without him thinking about what he was doing, he reached out and took her hand. She smiled at him, a sweet smile that lit up her face.

Reyna Lopez, daughter of Mars.

Beautiful.

* * *

><p><strong>That was a sucky ending, but I couldn't come up with anything better… XD.<strong>

**This chapter's member-of-the-seven is… Annabeth. **


	11. Sister?

**Okay. This chapter is probably going to be kind of short, and lousy, but… here we go! **

**Thanks to the reviewers! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own TLH or its characters. Happy?**

* * *

><p>XI<p>

PERCY

Percy woke up from his brief nap to find himself pinned against a brick wall with a bronze dagger pointed at his face.

_Celestial bronze_, he thought absently, noting the soft glow of the metal. Then he thought he'd better pay more attention to the knife's wielder, instead of the knife. His eyes focused.

He drew in a sharp breath of surprise. By the hard grip that held him in place against the wall, he had expected to see a guy. Maybe some gangster who wanted his money.

Instead, he saw a girl a bit younger than him with jet-black hair, green eyes, and skin the color of alabaster.

"What are you doing here, half-blood?" the girl hissed.

"Um… I _was _sleeping…" Percy said, frowning.

"That's not what I meant!" the girl grumbled. "Boys…"

"Hey…" he protested.

"What's your name?" the girl demanded.

"Percy. What's your name?"  
>She studied him. "You can call me Lila," she said.<p>

"Okay, Lila. Now I've got a question for you: why did you pin me against the wall?"

Lila hesitated a moment. "Classified," she said at last.

Percy rolled his eyes. "That's so cheesy."

"How old are you?" she fired at him.

"Uh… I'm not sure… maybe around seventeen?"

Lila's green eyes seemed to bore holes into his skull. "I'm thirteen," she announced. Her eyes narrowed. "If you're really seventeen, than you've got to be able to fight in order to survive this long. Who trained you?"

"Trained me? A camp." Percy blinked. "Why?"

"Greek or Roman?" Lila muttered under her breath. "Who's your godly parent?"

"Poseidon. Er, Neptune," he said immediately.

She smirked. "Then I guess you have a half-sister… me."

* * *

><p>Lila was a scary girl. But Percy guessed that came from being part of the Demigod Railroad.<p>

"We help demigods on their own get to camp," she'd explained. "The Railroad members have to be alert, good fighters, and tough enough to live on the street."

Percy wasn't sure he'd ever want to join the Railroad.

"We get food from trash and run all over the country to help demigods."  
>Percy was definitely sure he didn't want to join the Railroad.<p>

"There's no room for softies like you."

Percy was glad of that.

"So, big bro—where are you going?" Lila asked.

"Um…" his brow furrowed as he thought hard. "New York." He'd pulled that place from some misty memory in the corner of his brain.

"Camp Half-Blood," Lila said immediately. "I can help you get there."

"Ah…"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, big bro," Lila smiled. "This way I might get to find out what exactly Neptune expects of me."

_Neptune_, Percy noted. _She said Neptune. So… she's a Roman demigod? _

"Us Railroad members are the exceptions of demigods who know of both camps," Lila answered, as though she'd heard his thoughts. The effect was creepy.

"Okay." Percy shrugged helplessly. There was no stopping this thirteen-year-old weapon-happy maniac.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, yes I know that this chapter sucked. Chapter 12 is going to be good… Spoiler: We get to find out what exactly two certain demigods have in store for a cheater!<strong>  
><strong>Okay. This is <em><span>IMPORTANT<span>_: if you review, be sure whether to tell if you want Leo to be with…**

**DAKOTA CHAN, silent and deadly daughter of Venus, who could use somebody to help her accept herself**

**HAZEL ALMANZO, beautiful daughter of Ceres, who needs some laughter and love in her life**

**GWEN ALTIARA, sunny daughter of Apollo, who needs nothing more than someone to love**


	12. Backstories

**Sorry that my chapters take so long! But I don't get much time on computer… And yes, I know that I said that there wouldn't be any Piper chapters for a while, but she was the only character not overused that made sense.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.**

XII

PIPER

"Wake up!"

Piper groaned and forced her eyes open. There wasn't a ray of sunlight coming through the windows. She blinked, trying to clear the blurriness that covered her vision.

"Jason?" she whispered hopefully. She remembered all those times—in her Mist-altered memories, at least—that he'd snuck into the girls' dorm to wake her up and steal her away for a midnight stroll.

"What the Pluto? No!" the person cried.

Piper's eyes focused. She was looking at the shadowed figure of one of the Venus girls… the Asian one named Dakota.

"What time is it?" Piper hissed.

"Five o'clock," Dakota answered. "Hurry up—we let you Greeks sleep in for a whole half hour already!"

"You guys are freaks," Piper said. "You get up at four thirty every morning?"

"Well… on Friday, we get up at six…"

Piper yawned and stumbled out of bed blindly. She shoved her feet into some sandals.

"Uh… sandals aren't a good idea," Dakota said.

"Why?"

"Um… you'll see…"

"SERIOUSLY? A two-mile run? And you couldn't tell me that beforehand?" Piper cried to the smirking Dakota.

"Well…" Dakota said slyly, "I could have…"

"Why are you Romans so… GAH! Forget it!" Piper stomped her foot on the ground. She cursed under her breath.

"I wouldn't go around insulting us children of Rome if I were you," Dakota warned. She grinned. "Not everybody is as nice as me."

"You're _nice_?"

"Of course." Dakota spread her arms wide, still grinning like a jack-o-lantern. "My friend Hazel would slap you silly if she heard you insult us."

"Who's Hazel?" Piper asked.

"She is the freakin' awesome-est knife fighter here," Dakota told her.

"No way."

"Way," a voice said behind Piper.

Piper whirled around. The speaker was a girl about her age, with skin the shade of alabaster, freckles across her nose, and curly brown hair. Her eyes were the most intense shade of green Piper had ever seen. They were penetrating, as though she were looking right into Piper's soul.

"Hazel Almanzo," the girl said. "Me and my dagger _Solanum_ can take anybody and win."

"What does Solanum mean?" Piper asked dumbly.

"Nightshade," Hazel answered. She smiled. "Most poisonous plant around… also extremely beautiful."  
>"Me and Katoptris have completed a quest," Piper offered, trying to appear more experienced than she was.<p>

"_A _quest. One." Hazel shook her head, still smiling slightly. "Gods. When did you get to camp, Greek girl?"

"This year," Piper said defensively.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Did you fight any monsters before you got whisked off to camp?"

"Well… a storm spirit," Piper said.

Hazel snorted a laugh. "Dakota! Did you hear that? A storm spirit?"

Dakota suppressed a smile. "Yes, I heard."  
>"Stop laughing!" Piper nearly shouted. "What's so funny?"<br>Hazel gasped from her laughter. "Sorry… it's just… did your dad take care of you?"

"Yes! And his name's Tristan McLean!" She pulled out the famous dad card, just to make those girls stop laughing.

They stared at her blankly. "Who's Tristan McLean?" Dakota asked.

"You know: movie star?"

"A movie star dad!" Hazel started laughing again.

Piper stomped her foot. "Argh! You people make me so mad! What's so funny?"  
>"Your dad was rich?" Dakota inquired.<p>

"Yes!"

Hazel stopped laughing, looking somber. Suddenly the light in her eyes disappeared, and was replaced by a cold darkness. "It's just that… we are children of Rome."

"I think Dakota has already established that," scoffed Piper.

"Children of Rome grow up on the streets. Their parents don't want them, or can't care for them, or are dead. We take care of ourselves. We find our way, eventually, to the Wolf House where Lupa takes care of us." Hazel's eyes were clouded with memories.

"Nobody wants us, or needs us, or can keep us," Dakota added sadly. "My dad couldn't take care of me. He was sick and couldn't work. And because we had no money, childcare services took me away from him. I cried. I kicked and screamed. I didn't want to leave him… I don't even know if he's alive now."

Hazel chimed in, "My dad abandoned me. He became depressed after Ceres left him, and he kept taking all these drugs and pills. Anything to forget reality. And finally… he gave me away. His last words to me were, 'You're so much better than me, Hazel. You'll do great in this world. Just… remember that as long as you keep smiling, everything will turn out.'" She shook her head. "I tried smiling, and that did me no good." Her eyes darkened even more with sorrow.

"And Gwen," Dakota began, "was lucky. Like you. She had a mother who cared for her. But then her mom died a few years back and Gwen came here."

"Reyna had it hardest," Hazel said. "Her mother died right in front of her, protecting her from a monster. She was five at the time, and she went on the run until she was seven. Then she found the Wolf House. Reyna was traumatized; she swore that nobody would ever hurt anyone she cared about ever again. And there's just something broken in her that can't be fixed."

"Scars fade if you let them, though, right?" Piper asked.

Hazel laughed bitterly. "Ha. That's a good one. Reyna won't let go. She can't. It's just too… scarring. I don't know. Of course, one person did help heal her…"

"Who?"

"Jason Grace." Hazel stared levelly at Piper. "She loved him like nobody else. It would literally drive Reyna of the edge of what little sanity she's clung to over the years if she lost him."

Piper was stunned speechless. "I…"

She recalled her words to Drew: _He may not know it yet, but Jason Grace is mine_.

She reminisced Hazel's words: _It would literally drive Reyna of the edge of what little sanity she's clung to over the years if she lost him. _

Piper didn't owe Reyna anything. She didn't even know or like Reyna. So what would it matter if she hurt her?

Silently she cursed her mother for setting this up. Aphrodite had known something like this would happen.

"Just run, Greek girl," Dakota said before taking off.

* * *

><p>Piper was breathless and sweaty by the time she finished running. She'd been almost last (it would have helped a LOT if Dakota had told her they would be running; then she would have worn sneakers). All the Roman kids had been in the front. Of course, at Camp Half-Blood, they didn't get up every morning at five and run two miles.<p>

She searched the crowd of faces, not knowing who she was looking for; then she realized she was scrutinizing each face for Jason. At last she found him.

She shoved her way over. "Hi," she smiled.

"Oh. Hi." He didn't sound especially enthusiastic about seeing her.

He craned his neck to see around her.

"Who are you looking for?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh—nobody," he said quickly.

"Mm-hmm," Piper said. She put her hands on her hips. "Looking for a certain Roman brunette?"

Jason sighed. "Your point?" he asked helplessly.

"What's up with you and… Riley?" Piper purposely got the name wrong to see if he'd correct her.

"Her name's Reyna," Jason responded immediately. "And… she's kind of my old girlfriend."

Piper could hear the unspoken words: _So it's my business and not yours_. It stung that Jason was being so distant from her.

"She's pretty," Piper commented. In some corner of her mind, she hoped he would say, _"Sure, but not as pretty as you." _

"I guess." Jason was looking behind her again. Then his face lit up like a little kid on Christmas. Piper groaned inwardly. Obviously he'd caught sight of _Reyna_.

He waved his arm and beamed. Through his grin, he muttered to Piper, "Be nice, okay? I'm counting on you, because she's sort of a loose cannon."

Piper didn't make any sign of assent. She wanted to see how Jason and Reyna interacted.

"Hey, Sparky!" Reyna ran up, a little breathless. "Did you remember which way to run?"

"Well, duh, Vulture Girl." Jason smirked. "I have a better sense of direction than you." Piper made a mental note: _nicknames. _That meant that they had an old bond of intimacy. She smiled inwardly about Reyna's nickname: Vulture Girl. Vultures were, in fact, the symbol of Mars, but it still gave Piper satisfaction that Reyna had such a repulsive bird for her nickname.

"That is _so _not true." Reyna sat down next to Jason. "Did you forget who led us from the Wolf House to camp?"

"Uh…" Jason looked lost. "Yes, actually."

Reyna playfully punched him in the arm. "Well, obviously yours truly." She spread her arms wide. "I can't believe you forgot me. I am going to _kill _Juno next time I see her."

"She's immortal," Piper put in.

Reyna looked up at Piper. "Oh… hi. I don't believe we've met." Any trace of playfulness was gone from her features. She had suddenly become the cordial Roman statue again.

"I'm Piper McLean, daughter of—," Piper began

"Venus," finished Reyna. "You sure smell like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"  
>"Your blood. It smells so <em>sweet<em>. Yuck." Reyna wrinkled her nose. Okay, so maybe she wasn't the cordial Roman; she was just like other popular girls from Piper's past schools. Of course, she had no idea if Reyna was popular here…

"Hey," Piper protested.

Jason said, "Don't get offended. Reyna always is telling people how they smell."

Reyna scoffed. "But only a few demigods have this skill."

"Can't monsters smell demigods?" Piper inquired.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. How else do they find us?"

"Um… supernatural sixth sense?"

"That has to be the dumbest idea I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of dumb ideas from Bobby."  
>"Who's Bobby?" Piper asked.<p>

"Turn around," Reyna offered. Piper was annoyed that so many people were always behind her.

She turned around and saw a kid with coppery colored hair and huge gray eyes behind wire rimmed glasses.

"I'm Bobby," the kid replied. His voice was twangy. He offered a hand to shake. "Bobby Macintosh, son of Minerva."

Piper tried not to laugh. He shared a godly parent with Annabeth Chase? This kid was so _geeky_.

"I wouldn't laugh," Jason warned. "Bobby's an amazing grappler."

"Gods!" Piper snorted. "Are all of your friends the _best _at something?"

"Pretty much," Reyna answered. "You have to be the _best _in order to get _the best _demigod in the camp's attention."

"I'm not the best," Jason protested, blushing.

"Stop being modest. You are, okay?" Reyna turned to Piper. "He's every girl here's dream guy."

The words seemed to have hidden meaning, like Reyna was speaking a different language. Piper just shrugged it off. Reyna was a weird girl. Yet again she remembered how Hazel had said that Reyna was holding on to the edge of her sanity.

Piper scrutinized Reyna's eyes, and she saw behind the playful pretense. It was all fake; a mask to hide what was within. The girl was an amazing actor.

Because in those aquamarine orbs, Piper could see how Reyna was masking her hurt. Hurt from her mother's death, hurt from her boyfriend leaving, hurt from Piper stealing his heart. So much hurt.

Piper nearly gasped out loud when she grasped the concept of how much pain Reyna was in.

She heard Aphrodite's voice in her head: _Isn't this going to be an amazing love story? Even better than Helen and Paris! Or Romeo and Juliet! _

Piper screamed out loud and ran.

* * *

><p><strong>I know, I know: lame ending, okay? And remember when you review: Hazel, Dakota, or Gwen for Leo? <strong>


	13. Greek Gladiators?

**I try to update fast, but it just doesn't happen. So I'm doing my best. I HATE writer's block.**

**Oh, yeah. There are a lot of hits to this story, even when I don't update, but still there aren't many reviews. So, um, reviews please! **

**News on Leo's girl: So far, one vote for Hazel, and two for Dakota. Yes, you can vote multiple times. So to ensure your character gets picked, vote! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of PJO/TLH. You guys should know that by now.**

* * *

><p>XIII<p>

REYNA

Reyna stared after Piper's screaming figure as she ran away, hands clamped over her ears.

Reyna turned to Jason, who looked just as perplexed as she felt. "What's up with her?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Uh…"

Reyna rolled her eyes. "My gods—if she just runs off yelling her head off all the time, I wonder about her sanity."

Jason smiled. "Hey… you're one to talk…"

She playfully punched him in the arm. "Shut up, you big moron."

Jason winced. "Ow…"

"You're such a baby."

"You're such a bully."

"Show-off!"

"Vulture Face!"

"Eye candy!"

"Dog Breath!" **(A/N: the dog is one of Mars' sacred animals. Just in case you wanted to know…) **

"Pretty-boy!"  
>"Um…" he paused to think. "Lunatic!"<p>

"Sparky-sparky boom-boom!" Reyna shot back, not even sure where that came from.

They both burst out laughing at that. "What the heck is a _sparky-sparky boom-boom_?" Jason asked, gasping for breath.

Reyna shrugged, still laughing helplessly. "I… don't know!"

"That was a load of hullabaloo for a nickname, Rey," he said.

"_Hullabaloo_? Who even says _hullabaloo _any more?"

They collapsed into more laughter.

A shadow loomed over them. "Well, it's nice to see that your _boyfriend _is back, Rey," a girl's voice said.

Reyna looked up to see the face of Amanda Justin, a daughter of Apollo. Amanda haughtily tossed her red hair over her shoulder.

"Amanda," Reyna said calmly, "go away. You just ruined our moment."

Amanda sneered, "Or else what, Vulture Face? You wouldn't _dare _do anything, not with all the Greeks here. Unless you want to ruin our name and make us look like savages, that is."

Jason muttered, "Who's she?"

Reyna mentally face-palmed herself. Jason's amnesia sure was annoying and inconvenient.

"Tell you later," she muttered back. She clenched her jaw. "Go away."

"Hmm… let me think… how about NO?"

"How about… I'll make you?"

"Mmm… no, thanks." Amanda studied her fingernails. "You know, you're _so _lucky that Jason remembers you."

"Say what now?" Reyna said, plainly seething.

"Because if he didn't, you do know who he'd choose, don't you?" Amanda sneered.

Reyna stood up and slapped Amanda across the face. "Get your sorry hide out of here before I tell Hazel to grow something _extra nasty _in your bunk."

"Pathetic!" Amanda spat. "You need darling little _Hazel _to do your dirty work for you?" She smirked. "Hazel is such an idiotic snooty-face!"

"No, but I'm certain darling little_ Hazel _will like to know what you said." Reyna was sure to add unnecessary sugar and honey to her voice.

Amanda's eye twitched. "This isn't over, Slime Queen!" And she left, rubbing her face grumpily.

Jason stared at Reyna. "I believe you owe me an explanation."

"I'd really rather not," she sighed.

"Why..?"

"History," she grumbled. "Really long, competitive history."

"Oooooooooooooooooookay," Jason said.

"Come on, Sparky. You're helping me teach your new _friends _some new combat styles."

"Why?"

"Well, obviously. They're newcomers. Remember the tradition? The one that every newcomer has to participate in?"

Jason's mouth dropped open. "That's crazy! No way! I thought Jezebel said they would be treated as honored guests!"

Reyna met his eyes. "We don't drop centuries of tradition just because some _Graeci _come along and invade our camp." (**Translation: Graeci means Greeks.) **

"We didn't invade!" He protested.

Reyna waited for him to realize his mistake, that he'd said _we _instead of _they_. He was Roman: born Roman, raised Roman, and lived Roman. And he would die Roman. But he seemed to think that he was Greek.

"Jason," she said softly. "This is your home. Us. You might not completely remember it, but this is where you've lived for… forever. We need you. You're our leader."

"But what if I don't want to be leader?" Jason blurted out in anguish. "Did I get a choice? No! The gods just went, 'Okay, Jason Grace. Here's your destiny. You get to lead the camp because Jupiter's your daddy!' And Hera didn't even _ask_ me if I cared about getting my memories stolen!" He paused, panting. His face had reddened in anger.

"We are the Children of Rome," Reyna said, as gently as she could. "We are given our destinies by the Fates. And nobody can tamper with Fate, not even the gods. We serve the gods! They brought us into being, and we are eternally grateful."

Reyna winced inwardly at how empty the words sounded. She sounded like she was just reciting sentences from a textbook.

"Yeah," he said bitterly. "We are eternally grateful."

Reyna knew better than to push the subject any further. "Come on," she said. "If you don't want your friends to get _occidit _in front of the entire camp." (**A/N: Occidit means killed.) **

Jason growled. "I'm doing this for them, not for you."

"I thought _I _was supposed to be the angry one," she mumbled under her breath.

* * *

><p>Reyna rubbed her temples. These <em>Graeci <em>were giving her a serious migraine.

First off, there was that Vulcan boy, with the curly dark hair. When she'd practiced sparring with him, he'd set her on fire. Her arms still stung, and her hair was still smoking.

Then there was that Trivia girl, with the dark hair and flashing purple eyes, who insisted on making weapons fly around magically instead of fighting with her own two hands.

Last, there was dear Miss McLean, who had returned once the practice started and attempted to use her _pitiful _ceremonial dagger.

"What kind of knife is that?" Reyna had asked incredulously.

"It's _my_ kind of knife," Piper had snapped back.

Then Piper had lunged. Reyna grabbed her by the elbow and squeezed hard.

Piper gasped and dropped the bronze knife, which made a bell-like clanging sound on the cement. Then she glared right at Reyna.

"Wouldn't you like to just stab yourself right now?" Piper asked, in a voice smooth like oil and sweet like honey.

Reyna blinked, smelling the magic in the air. She decided to play along.

"Yes, I would like to stab myself," she agreed, before unsheathing her sword and smacking Piper in the face with the sword flat.

Reyna cleared her throat, coming back to the present. Nobody listened.

"_SILENTIO INTOLERABILI FATUI VOBIS!_" she roared in Latin. They fell silent, even though none of the _Graeci _could have understood. **(Translation: "Silence, you insufferable idiots!")**

"Listen," she said through gritted teeth. "You all are going to be gladiator fighting in front of the whole of the camp, as it is custom for newcomers. If you don't stop horsing around, you're going to be killed so quickly that you won't realize you're dead. So unless you want to become a ghost in less than an instant, I suggest you take me seriously and PRACTICE WHATEVER FIGHTING YOU LEARNED IN YOUR STUPID CAMP!"

"Was the word 'stupid' really necessary?" The Vulcan boy asked, grinning.

"Yes, it was completely necessary," Reyna replied. She smiled sweetly. "Because all of you are giving me a headache, and I _never _get headaches."

The Vulcan boy refused to stop. "Why don't you get headaches?"

"Would you prefer to shut up or be forced to be shut up?"

"What's the difference?"

"Well, I could force you to shut up by killing you," she suggested.

"I'll shut up."

"Thank you."

"Resume training," Reyna barked.

* * *

><p>"Well, I sure hope you did a good job teaching," Dakota said to Reyna. They were seated in the amphitheatre, awaiting the gladiator fights.<p>

Reyna sniffed. "You know I'm a good teacher. The problem was getting them to shut up, quit being stupid, and listen to me."

Dakota's hooded brown eyes were clouded with worry. "Who's brilliant idea was it to make them gladiator fight? Abigail told us she'd asked the consul to treat them as guests."

"They're still newcomers," Reyna said defensively. Dakota wasn't a member of the consul, after all, so why should she be criticizing their judgment?

Gwen joined in. "I would hate to see them shame themselves," she said. "And then we'd have to clean up their carcasses. Yuck." She rolled her blue eyes good-naturedly.

Hazel threw in her two cents. "It would take forever to scrub all the blood off the amphitheatre," she complained. "And even then it would reek of death for _ages_."

Gwen brushed a few stray blonde locks out of her eyes. "Aren't you worried about anything else?" She nudged Hazel playfully.

To Reyna's surprise, Hazel blushed.

Dakota smiled. "Hazel seems quite taken with one of the _Graeci_," she said helpfully.

"Am not," Hazel muttered. "And you're the one who's been talking to him the most."

"Who?" Reyna asked.

Hazel shut her mouth quickly. Dakota looked away. Gwen looked mildly amused.

"They're not telling," Gwen laughed.

"And you? Anybody in particular?" Reyna inquired.

"Nah," Gwen said. "Besides, you guys already know who I like, and he's one of us."

"True," Dakota said.

"Shhh!" Hazel hissed. "Jason's doing the intro!"

Reyna directed her attention to the amphitheatre.

_"__Cives __Camp __Iuppiter __tibi __militia __Camp __Half-__sanguine.__Duis __congue __salutantur __a __fratribus nostris__in armis. Familiaris __noster __diu __partiti__sunt__.__Nun c__ligula__v elit__utente s__invitati __gratia__no scertamen__. __Primum__est,__ut__fermentum __Annabeth __filia __Minerva__!" _**(Translation: Citizens of Camp Jupiter, I give you the warriors of Camp Half-Blood. We greet them from across the country as our brothers and sisters in arms. Our family has been divided for so long. And now, the guests grace us with a fight using their unique skills. First up, we have Annabeth Chase, daughter of Minerva!)**

"Darn," Dakota muttered. "That's my cue. I'm supposed to fight her."

* * *

><p><strong>Dun-dun-dun! Cliffhanger! Let's see how they do… after a quick interruption from Percy.<strong>

**Again, votes for Hazel, Gwen, or Dakota? And reviews greatly appreciated. Hope you liked it!**


	14. A Word From Our Percy

**This chapter is short… yeah, I just can't seem to make Percy chapters long. **

**Two votes for Hazel, two votes for Dakota… **

**Disclaimer: You guys know what goes here.**

* * *

><p>XIV<p>

PERCY

Percy tensed beside his little sister. "Lila, what's wrong?"

She stood frozen, green eyes stormy with a turmoil of emotions. Fear, anger, frustration, and annoyance gleamed in her eyes.

"I swear," she muttered, "that somebody killed the stupid thing already."

"What?" Percy asked.

"The Minotaur," Lila spat.

At that moment, a massive half bull, half man creature erupted from the ground bellowing.

Lila drew her dagger. She glanced at Percy. "I hope you have a good weapon, big bro." She raced towards the monster, yowling like a wounded cat.

Percy reached into his pocket and drew out his plastic ballpoint pen. Man, he just couldn't lose that thing! No matter which pair of pants he wore, the pen always appeared in his pocket.

He let his instincts take over and uncapped the pen. It elongated into a bronze sword, well balanced, that glowed faintly in the afternoon light.

"Riptide," he mumbled, as the blade ignited a shred of memory in the back of his head.

"Some help would be really, really nice!" Lila yelled, jarring him. Her knife was embedded in the Minotaur's left nostril by the hilt, which was seriously gross, all things considered. She darted back and forth, attempting to distract the monster.

Percy leveled his pen-sword at the ugly thing and charged. It was a dumb idea, but hey—that was all he could come up with on short notice.

The Minotaur swiped at him blindly, bellowing in fury. He/she/it missed.

Percy's sword sank into the monster's gut, making it disintegrate into gold dust.

"Nice," his sister panted. She made a face as she reclaimed her now slimy dagger. "Gross... Minotaur boogers!"

Apparently they shared the same sense of humor.

The ground vibrated, and Percy heard a voice in his head that seemed to reverberate from the earth itself.

_"So, son of Poseidon, you may yet be of use to me after all," _the voice rumbled.

Percy staggered. The magnitude of the force that owned the voice was vibrating, seeming to travel up his legs to his spine and brain.

Then the ground beneath him turned to liquid, and Percy started to sink rapidly. He struggled, clawing at the surface in desperation.

Before he disappeared underneath the muck, he heard Lila shout, "Don't worry! I'll get help! We'll get you back!"

Then the earth closed above him, and he was falling into darkness. He screamed as his ears rang with a roar of cackles.

Then there was nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I know it was short. Sorry! But now, back to the gladiator fight! <strong>


	15. Of Battles and Onion Jelly

**Yes! Finally, the good part! So, um… this chapter is definitely rated T. Viewer discretion is highly recommended… for some action violence and blood.**

**Oh, yeah. Could you guys get me to sixty reviews after this chapter, please? It's a long chapter. Seriously. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of PJO/TLH. |:(**

* * *

><p>XV<p>

JASON

Jason watched with wary fascination as Annabeth and Dakota circled each other. Athena's daughter versus Aphrodite's daughter. This should be fun to watch.

Annabeth narrowed her gray eyes, sizing up her opponent with intense concentration.

Dakota's chocolate brown eyes betrayed no hint of emotion. She stared back at Annabeth defiantly.

Annabeth pulled out her knife, as did Dakota. Then Annabeth smiled and winked.

She yanked her Yankees cap out of her pocket and put it on. The crowd gasped as she vanished. Dakota looked lost, spinning around in a constant circle warily. Then she brightened, apparently coming up with an idea.

Dakota bent down and scooped up a handful of sand, eyes closed. She held her dagger at the ready. Jason wondered what she had planned.

Dakota seemed to be listening hard, trying to detect any noise Annabeth made. After a few moments, she whirled around and threw the sand.

The sand hit something and stuck—Annabeth. The daughter of Athena's ghostly outline appeared. Dakota opened her eyes again and thrust her dagger at the outline.

There was a startled shout and suddenly Dakota's dagger was bloody, sticky and red. A hat fluttered to the ground, and Annabeth was suddenly in full view again.

She was cradling her left side, which Dakota had apparently grazed with her dagger. Annabeth glared murderously at Dakota.

It was a brilliant move, a feint and then a quick lunge. Dakota could never have saw it coming. The daughter of Venus gasped in surprise, then doubled over.

"I surrender!" Dakota choked, yanking Annabeth's knife roughly out of her stomach.

"Match over!" Jason declared. "Annabeth Chase is the victor!" He sat back down, feeling a bit sick at the sight of Dakota's wound.

Annabeth marched out of the amphitheatre, chin held up high, while Dakota gasped raggedly and dragged herself to the Apollo cabin for some healing.

"Second round! Leo Valdez versus Hazel Almanzo!"

There were cheers as the next two gladiators took the stage. Leo was grinning goofily, while Hazel appeared as emotionless as a statue.

"BEGIN!" Jason shouted, standing up from his chair again. He sat back down. All this screaming was making his throat hurt.

Leo made the first move, hurling a fireball at Hazel, who ducked. She drew a knife from her belt and chucked it at him. It spun end over end.

Leo yelped, jumping to the side at the last moment. "Whoa! I thought there wasn't supposed to be any killing!"

Hazel responded by starting to sing.

"What? Seriously? Why are you singing Adele music now? I don't even LIKE 'Rolling in the Deep'!" Leo protested.

Hazel flashed Leo a look of intense irritation. "Boy, you started rolling in the deep the instant you stepped up here."

Huh. Hazel was talking. That was unusual, Jason noted.

"Was that supposed to be a burn? 'Cause if it was, then that was more like an ice!" Leo taunted. That was a sincerely stupid joke.

Hazel's eyes glittered. She threw her arms in the air and tossed her head back—in exasperation, Jason guessed—before massive vines exploded out of the ground and snaked across the battlefield to Leo.

Leo laughed gleefully. "Seriously? Magic plants? You've got a lot to learn, 'cause this son of Hephaestus can do a lot more than build stuff and get dirty."

Leo snapped his fingers, and flames flickered to life before him in a roaring wall. The vines stopped moving, apparently reluctant to plunge into the inferno.

An animal-like snarl erupted from Hazel, causing Leo to wince and step back.

Hazel smiled, evilly almost, and snapped _her _fingers. Immediately, a pod shot out of the dirt and opened.

Hazel plucked a long, purple spike from the pod. She chucked it at Leo. It was a pathetic throw that missed his face by half a foot.

Hazel? Missing a shot? Also unusual.

"Missed!" Leo grinned.

Hazel threw another two purple spikes, each of them equally long. Leo dodged in a panic.

Then Hazel threw something else, a red spike about as thick and long as a sewing needle.

"Jeez, Plant Face! You keep missing! Are you blind or something?"

Then the needle embedded itself in Leo's chest.

He collapsed, convulsing violently, while screaming curses at Hazel.

Hazel smiled again, a cold and creeping smile. "Always remember," she said, "that I _never _miss."

Leo went limp. Was he… dead?

"Match over, with Hazel Almanzo the victor!" hollered Jason above the cheers of the Romans.

Reyna leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry about your friend. That's just paralyzing venom."

"How can you tell?"

Reyna sniffed disdainfully. "Well, I've known Hazel and her tricks for _forever_…"

"Okay…" he addressed the crowd. "Third round! Piper McLean versus Gwendolyn Altiara! BEGIN!"

Jason was expecting a lot of bantering from the two girls, since Gwen had a way with getting her opponent to chat.

Gwen had her golden blonde hair pulled back severely in a tight ponytail, which is how Jason knew she meant business. It was true that she always had her hair in a ponytail, but usually her ponytail was messy, and some loose strands hung in her face.

Strangely, she wore a black glove on her left hand—Gwen was left-handed—but only her left. Why not one on her right hand?

"Why is she bringing her bow and arrows in a close combat match?" Jason hissed in Reyna's ear.

Reyna smiled smugly. "You'll see."

Jason directed his attention towards the fight.

"I hear you're a pretty talented fighter, you know, for a daughter of Venus!" Gwen called out.

Piper had her dagger out and ready. "I'm sorry, but I don't use those confounded new _Roman _names."

"Sorry to offend you, Grams!" Gwen exclaimed in mock surprise. "I didn't realize how _old _style you are!"  
>Piper was seething.<p>

"So, how do you want to get killed?" the blonde girl continued. "I have two different choices—sorry, but that's all—and you get to choose! So. Close range or long range?"

Piper's voice was honeyed to the point of scary. "I believe close range is my only choice, seeing as how I only have a dagger."

"Call yourself a warrior? Annabeth told me you were _Aphrodite's _cabin leader! Don't you have to, you know, be a good fighter to get that position?"

"Fight me up close, coward!" Piper snapped.

Gwen shrugged good-naturedly. "It's your funeral." She flexed her left-hand fingers, and a dagger emerged from the glove's knuckles.

But that wasn't all. Gwen flexed her fingers again, and the dagger's blade split into three blades, like metal claws.

"This," Gwen lectured, "is called a _katar_. It was a punching blade used in Northern India and Persia."

"Spare me the history lesson, Miss Sunshine!" hissed Piper mutinously. "Just fight me already!"  
>"Jeez, testy much?" Gwen teased. She took her place and jabbed at Piper with the <em>katar <em>experimentally_. _Piper quickly backed up.

Piper warily eyed the three blades. Three blades to get skewered on. Great. Absolutely, positively great, huh?

Jason whispered to Reyna, "She'll be killed if Gwen stabs her with that!"

Reyna grinned. "Cool, right?" When she saw his horrified expression, she quickly added, "But Gwen's not going to do that. That isn't her style. She's a daughter of Apollo, remember? Long range is her shtick."

Jason wasn't sure he believed her, but he tuned back in to the fight.

Piper swiped hastily at Gwen, who dodged nimbly. Gwen reached into her quiver and drew out… a bomb?

Gwen threw the object on the ground, and smoke and sparks came hissing out. Within moments, a smokescreen separated the daughter of Aphrodite and the daughter of Apollo.

Gwen raced backwards quickly, while Piper coughed and spluttered, calling Gwen several names, none of them nice.

Gwen drew her bow and notched three arrows in it.

"She can shoot three at a time?" Jason asked in awe.

Reyna shrugged. "She _is _the cabin leader of Apollo here."

Gwen let the arrow fly. They whizzed with amazing speed and accuracy at Piper.

Piper batted aside two of them with Katoptris, but the third one exploded in her face.

"Light flash trick arrow," Reyna muttered. "Nice."

Piper was blinded, and staggered around like a drunkard.

Gwen pulled something from her belt. Jason couldn't see what it was.

"Pipes, you had better surrender!" she called, still smiling brightly. "If you so move _at all_, I am going to pull the trigger."

Piper blinked rapidly. "What?"

"Reach for the sky!" Gwen ordered, sounding very much like Woody from _Toy Story_.

Reyna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ah, Gwen, you're so cheesy."

Jason squinted and at last saw what she was holding. A pistol. An M1911, to be exact.

Piper saw the gun too. She raised her hands and dropped her knife. "I surrender," she grumbled.

"What's that?" Gwen asked innocently.

"I surrender!"

"I can't hear you—oops, my finger is slipping! I might hit the trigger by accident!"

"I SURRENDER!" screamed Piper.

"Thank you," Gwen said happily.

Jason was relieved it was over.

"I bet you," said Reyna, "that Gwen was bluffing and her M1911 wasn't even loaded."

"Really?" So Piper hadn't been in danger.

"Nah. Gwen's serious when it comes to her weapons."

"That's a horrible joke."

"Well, I was trying to make you stop looking so worried," Reyna complained. "It was like you actually thought Gwen would shoot her!"

Jason didn't say that he'd thought that. Instead, he addressed the crowd again. "Match over, with Gwendolyn Altiara the victor! Next round: Nico Di Angelo versus Robert Macintosh!"

Bobby and Nico took their places. Nico held his Stygian iron sword out, black as midnight.

Bobby wasn't wearing his ridiculous spectacles. _What_?

"Why isn't he wearing his glasses? Can he see?" Jason asked Reyna.

"Well, duh." She rolled her eyes. "He doesn't need those things, he just wears them because they're magic and let him see _really _far away."

"Um…" Jason was at a loss for words. "BEGIN!"

Bobby lunged forward and grabbed Nico by the elbow.

He wore shiny golden gloves.

Nico frowned. "Get off me, weirdo!"  
>Bobby frowned too. "Why isn't it working?" He tapped the glove and grabbed Nico again.<p>

This time, Bobby electrocuted himself.

Reyna sighed, resigned. "Shame, his invention didn't work. If it did, that would've been genius."

"Uh… MATCH OVER! With Nico Di Angelo the victor!"

"But he didn't even _do _anything," Reyna complained. "Bobby just defeated himself!"  
>"Yes, but Nico is still conscious," Jason reasoned.<p>

Nico stared in confusion at the son of Minerva. "Wait… I won? But I didn't get to even draw my sword!"

"BOO!" the Romans jeered. Apparently they hadn't found the match entertaining. And when the gladiators didn't fight in an entertaining way… they became Lupa's dinner.

Jason's eyes widened. All around the amphitheatre, demigods were putting their thumbs down. If the majority had thumbs down, then Nico and Bobby would be slaughtered.

Reyna scowled. "Ah, don't worry. Those Greeks are our 'guests of honor.' We can't kill them, since they're on a diplomatic mission." She sounded wistful, like she had really been hoping to burn some Greek bodies in the campfire.

"Reyna, I just realized something."

"Amazing. What?" Reyna rolled her eyes.

"You are freakin' _insane_."

"Great job, genius."

"You're not… offended or anything?"

"Heck no." She grinned widely. "People say that all the time. Plus, I'm not that sensitive, unlike your dear _Miss McLean_."

Subtlety was never Reyna's strong point, Jason recalled.

"That's not fair, Rey."

"Life isn't fair."

"Why do you have to be so… sarcastic?"

"You have more matches to announce, Jayjay," Reyna fired back.

"Oh… right."

The next matches passed in a blur—Reyna versus Clarisse (Reyna won, thanks legion combat training), Jezebel (Minerva's cabin leader) versus the Stoll brothers (yes, they fought as a pair), and finally Aspen from Mercury cabin against Shay, the daughter of Hecate.

"Gods, I'm hungry," Jason muttered. He stood up and shouted, "AND THAT CONCLUDES THE FIGHTING!"

The crowd dispersed and headed towards the dining pavilion.

"Come on, Sparky," Reyna said. "Let's go eat."

* * *

><p>It was Minerva cabin's turn to prepare the food that day.<p>

Jason poked at his food tentatively. "What the Hades is this gunk?"

At the Roman camp, you could sit wherever you liked. There were no cabin table rules, a definite plus.

Gwen peered over his shoulder. "Ah… I have no idea." Everyone had a bowlful of Technicolor grossness. It jiggled when you shook the dish, and seemed to be alive in some way, like a plant.

"Let me guess," Jason said. "Bobby told his cabin to make this."

Gwen nodded unenthusiastically. "I bet it isn't _that _bad…" She shoved a spoonful in her mouth and gagged. "Ugh. Onion and banana… with some pickle and… spinach. Maybe a bit of watermelon and cheese."

Jason nearly vomited. "Gross!"  
>Bobby came over. "Excuse me?" He was holding a wiggling bowl of crud. He ate a bite. "Delicious."<br>Gwen clapped a hand over her mouth and ran, her face as green as moss. "Oh gods!" she choked.

"What's up with her?" Bobby asked, gray eyes puzzled.

"Uh… she feels a bit sick," Jason explained.

"Oh."

"Dude, Bobby!" Reyna dashed over. "Gwen just tossed her cookies!"

"Um…" Bobby said.

Jason flashed Bobby a look that said, _All yours, man. _He quickly got up and left before Reyna started launching into an elaborate explosion of insults to Bobby's food.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm trying to add a bit more comic relief. Did I succeed? :)<strong>

**Please review! **

**-Raven**


	16. Aftermath

**Hi guys! Okay, sorry for not updating. But what can I say? I blame school. :(**

**So, enjoy: Lekota fluff. (LeoxDakota) Since apparently you guys like it.**

**Wait, wait. Another thing before the chapter gets going: I probably won't finish before the actual SON comes out. But I'll still update… even though you'll probably be bored.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: You guys know the drill.**

* * *

><p>XVI<p>

LEO

Leo grumbled impatiently. Hazel's spikes had knocked him out for a bit, but for about an hour he'd been completely paralyzed so far.

Dakota Chan, the daughter of Venus who'd been beaten by Annabeth, sat on the cot to his right.

"Try to move your fingers now," Dakota said encouragingly. "I think you should be able to feel them again."

Leo sighed, feeling pins and needles stab at his fingertips. He swiveled his gaze to his hand.

The fingers moved. "Finally," Leo complained.

Gwen, the yahoo-cheerleader type daughter of Apollo, was monitoring them. She laughed. "See, that's why nobody likes messing with Hazel and her plants." Gwen walked over to Dakota and examined the bandage around her stomach. "Hmm… let's give it another few minutes, and if it doesn't start bleeding again you can go."

"Hey, Gwen," called Leo. "Can you, like, use some healing magic or something so I can move and get out of here?"

Gwen shook her head forlornly. "Sorry, but my magic doesn't work on that." She brightened. "Hey, are you bored?"

"Yes," Leo said.

"Okay, then." Gwen clapped her hands cheerfully. "Let's see… how's this for entertainment?"

Gwen beamed, and right then a swirl of colorful lights bloomed around her, flickering in different shades and patterns.

"What—how do you—," Leo spluttered.

"Daughter of Apollo," Gwen said. "Duh. He's the sun god? I have light powers."

"Uh…" he wasn't sure how to respond.

"And Dakota over there can shapeshift," Gwen continued. "Can your charmspeaker friend do that?"

"Don't think so," Leo muttered. "Dakota, you can really shapeshift?"

The raven-haired girl looked faintly embarrassed. "Yeah."

Leo started. Dakota's face had just morphed. Now her eyes were gray and her hair was blonde. She resembled Annabeth perfectly.

Then Dakota changed again, hair turning stringy brown and eyes going back to their usual brown. She grew in size. She was now a perfect likeness of Clarisse.

Finally, Dakota shrank and her skin turned a familiar shade of olive. Her eyes darkened even more, and her hair turned jet-black once more. Except it was short.

She was Nico Di Angelo.

"So cool!" Leo exclaimed.

Dakota shrugged. "I guess." Her tone was nonchalant as her face shifted back to its original state.

A horrible thought struck Leo. "Wait… is this even the real _you_?"

"I don't know," Dakota said. "I've worn this face for so long… I'm not sure what shape I had before I discovered my power."

She sounded so desolate, so confused, that Leo had an overwhelming urge to just wrap her in a hug. (Of course, he probably couldn't have even if he'd let himself, thanks to Hazel).

Gwen checked Dakota's bandage again. "Okay, Kota. You can go now."

Dakota sent Leo a look that he clearly understood: _I'll be waiting outside. _

_ Thank you_, he mouthed. Then he paused. How could he read her expression so well? For a moment, it was like he'd been able to see straight into her soul, like he'd known her all his life. Sort of like how Reyna could read Jason like an open book.

Leo tensed and tried to sit up. To his amazement, the tingling haze of numbness had subsided, and he succeeded.

Gwen's blue eyes sparkled. "Well, I'll be! That was pretty fast. You must have _some _metabolism to overcome the poison so quickly." Gwen helped him stand up. "You might have a few pins and needles in your limbs for a while, but for the most part you're fine now."

"Okay, thanks," Leo said uncertainly as he wobbled shakily out of the infirmary.

* * *

><p>Dakota's brown eyes gleamed a warm shade of amber in the afternoon light when he walked out of the door. "Wow, that was pretty fast. Usually Hazel's victims take much longer."<p>

"Well, what can I say? I'm a fire guy. I burned right through her dumb poison." Leo was aware that he was babbling senselessly, but looking into Dakota's eyes had just melted him into a puddle.

"Oh, really? I should have given you something stronger, then." Leo jumped and turned around to see a steely-eyed Hazel right behind him.

"Gods," he complained. "You Romans are so _silent_. How is anyone supposed to know when you're in the room?"

"If you had Lupa's training," Hazel answered, "you would have been able to hear me coming from yards away."

"Cool," Leo commented. "Like, ninja training. No, wait. Assassin training. There we go. Are you guys all wannabe assassins?"

"Mmm." Hazel flicked a stray curl out of her face. "That's one style. You can be silent and deadly—"

Leo snickered. "Did you just say silent and deadly? That's like _silent but deadly_. Are all of your battle styles modeled after farts?"

Hazel glared at him, and Leo felt like curling up and hiding. Hazel seemed… dangerous. "Let me finish. There's silent and deadly—"

This time, Dakota giggled.

Hazel glared.

Dakota stopped hastily.

"—And there's loud and straightforward, like Jason and Reyna," Hazel continued. "Usually it all depends on what weapon you choose. Sword? Straightforward. Spear? Straightforward. Knife? Assassin-style."

"So you admit you're all wannabe assassins!"

"Shut up, Greek boy."

"Lay off, Hazel." Dakota stepped forward. Hazel shrugged.

"Whatever, Kota." She turned and walked away.

Dakota looked at Leo with an unreadable expression in her eyes. "Sorry about that. Hazel's a bit of a grouch sometimes."

"Ah, no problem."

"…" Dakota seemed lost and confused.

"Gimme a hug, Kota. You're sad." Leo reached his arms out somewhat awkwardly, unsure of what made him say that.

Dakota did better than that. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. It was a few seconds of pure singing sweetness. Then she pulled away.

Dakota's face had changed again. Now, her cheeks bore a rosy tint. Her dark hair was wavy and sleek. A smile was set upon her lips, making her pale face less solemn and more beautiful, as far as Leo was concerned. She had just transformed into the girl of his dreams.

"Leo Valdez," she said, grinning maniacally. "I think you just gave me back my original face."

"I like this new one," he said, contemplating her.

"Why, thank you."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that was short. And ridiculously fluffy. Wow. I suck at fluff. ;) Next chapter: Percy. R&amp;R, please! <strong>


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